NO. 805: "THE DAY OF VENGEANCE" - PART THREE

No. 805

Part Three – Its Necessity and Justice

“Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.” (Matt. 23:36)

This is a continuation from our July and August 2024 papers on “The Day of Vengeance.”

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To those unaccustomed to weighing principles from the standpoint of an exact moral philosophy, it may seem strange that a subsequent generation of humanity should suffer the penalty of the accumulated crimes of several preceding generations. However, since that is the expressed judgment of God, who cannot err, we should expect mature consideration to make manifest the justice of His decision. In the above words, our Lord addressed the generation of fleshly Israel in the end of the typical Jewish Age. Upon them should come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, who was slain between the temple and the altar. (Matt. 23:35)

That was a terrible prophecy, but it fell upon heedless and unbelieving ears. True to the letter, it had its fulfilment about thirty-seven years later, when civil strife and hostile invaders accomplished the fearful recompense. Of that time, we read that the inhabitants of Judea were divided by jealousies into many warring factions, and that mutual mistrust reached its highest point. Friends were alienated, families were broken up, and every man suspected his brother. Theft, impostures, and assassinations were rife, and no man’s life was secure. Even the temple was not a place of safety. The chief priest was slain while performing public worship. Then, driven to desperation by the massacre of their brethren in Caesarea, and apparently appointed everywhere else for slaughter, the whole nation united in revolt. Judea was thus brought into open rebellion against Rome, and in defiance against the whole civilized world.

Vespasian and Titus were sent to punish them, and one after another of their cities was swept away, until at last Titus laid siege to Jerusalem. In the spring of A.D. 70, when the city was crowded with the multitudes who came up to the feast of the Passover, he drew up his legions before her walls, and the imprisoned inhabitants shortly became the prey of famine, the sword of the invaders, and civil strife.

The above prophecy was thus fulfilled upon rebellious fleshly Israel in the end of their age of special favor as God’s chosen people. According to the broader significance of the prophecy, the parallel of that trouble is to come in the end of this Gospel Age upon nominal spiritual Israel, which, in its widest sense, is Christendom. It is to be “a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation,” and hence in some sense it will be even more terrible than that upon Judea and Jerusalem. We can scarcely imagine a trouble more severe, except in the sense of being more general and widespread, and more destructive. Instead of being confined to one nation or province, its sweep will be over the whole world, especially the civilized world – Christendom or Babylon.

We may therefore regard that visitation of wrath upon fleshly Israel as a foreshadowing of the greater indignation and wrath to be poured upon Christendom in the end of this age. Those who view this as unjust have failed to comprehend that perfect law of retribution, which surely, though often slowly, works out its inevitable results. The justice, the necessity, and the philosophy of it, are very manifest to the thoughtful and reverent, who, instead of being inclined to accuse God of injustice, apply their hearts to the instruction of His Word.

We stand today at the culmination of ages of experience which should be greatly to the world’s profit, especially to that part which has been favored, directly and indirectly, with the light of divine truth – Christendom, Babylon. God holds men accountable, not only for what they know, but for what they might know if they would apply their hearts unto instruction – for the lessons which experience (their own and that of others) is designed to teach. If men fail to heed the lessons of experience, or willfully neglect or spurn its precepts, they must suffer the consequences.

By giving heed to the experiences of preceding generations the world has made very commendable progress in material things. Many of the comforts and conveniences of our present civilization have come to us largely from applying the lessons observed in the experiences of past generations. The present generation in this one point alone has much advantage every way: all the accumulated wisdom and experience of the past are added to its own. But the great moral lessons which men ought also to have been studying and learning have been very generally disregarded, even when they have been emphatically forced upon public attention. History is full of such lessons to thoughtful minds inclined to righteousness, and men of the present day have more such lessons than those of any previous generation. The law of cause and effect is nowhere more prominently marked than on the pages of history. According to this law, which is God’s law, the seeds of past sowing must of necessity germinate, develop and bring forth fruitage, and a harvest at some time is therefore inevitable.

THE WARNINGS TO CHRISTENDOM

Babylon, Christendom, has had a long probation of power, and has had many opportunities both to learn and to practice righteousness, as well as many warnings of a coming judgment. All through this Gospel Age she has had in her midst the saints of God – devoted, self-sacrificing, Christlike men and women – “the salt of the earth.” She has heard the message of salvation from their lips, seen the principles of truth and righteousness exemplified in their lives, and heard them reason of righteousness and of judgment to come. But she has disregarded these living epistles of God; and not only so, but her so-called Christian nations, in their greed for gain, have brought reproach upon the name of Christ among the heathen (non-Christian) nations, following the Christian missionary with the accursed rum traffic and other “civilized” evils.

In her midst and by her authority the true embryo Kingdom of heaven (composed only of the saints, whose names are written in heaven) has suffered violence. She has hated them and persecuted them even unto death, so that thousands of them throughout the centuries have, by her decrees, sealed their testimony with their blood. Like their Master, they were hated without a cause; they were rejected as the offscouring of the earth for righteousness’ sake. Their light was again and again quenched that the preferred darkness might reign with its opportunities to work iniquity. The mother system is “drunken with the blood” of the saints and martyrs of Jesus. She and her daughters, still blind, are ready still to persecute and behead (Rev. 20:4), though in a more refined manner, all who are loyal to God and His truth, and who venture, however kindly, to point out to them plainly the Word of the Lord which reproves them.

The civil powers of Christendom have been warned frequently when, again and again, empires and kingdoms have fallen with the weight of their own corruption. And even today, if the powers that be would harken, they might hear a last warning of God’s inspired Prophet: “Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little . . . Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves [in opposition], and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.” (Psa. 2:10-12, 1-5) Their resistance shall avail nothing when they persistently neglect to heed the Lord’s warnings.

Again, “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty [of those in authority]; he judgeth among the gods [the rulers]. How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.” (Psa. 82:1-4) That the import and expediency of this counsel are, by the exigencies of the present times, being forced upon the attention of those in authority, the daily press is a constant witness; and numerous are the warning voices of thoughtful men who see the danger of the general neglect of this advice. Even men of the world, who scan the future only from the standpoint of expediency, perceive the necessity for the pursuance of the course advised by the Prophets.

But do those in authority heed the warnings and the solemn lessons of this hour? No: as the Prophet foretold of them, “They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: [until] all the foundations of the earth [the foundations of society – the hitherto established principles of law and order] are out of course.” (Psa. 82:5) That is, they walk on until they are terribly shaken that they may be removed. (Heb. 12:27; Isa. 2:19) Thus all the nations of “Christendom” are heedlessly stumbling on in the long-preferred darkness. Even the United States, which boasts of liberty and is in many respects so richly favored above all other nations, is no exception; and it, too, has had many warnings.

The ecclesiastical powers of Christendom have also been warned by the providential dealings of God with His people in the past, and by occasional reformers. Yet few, very few, can read the handwriting on the wall, and they are powerless to overcome, or even to stay, the popular current. The warnings have gone forth but they have been unheeded. Great power has been in the hands of ecclesiastics (and to some extent it still is), but it has been, and still is, selfishly used and abused in the name of Christ and His gospel. They seek “honour one of another,” “chief seats in the synagogues,” and “to be called of men, Rabbi” (Doctor, Reverend, etc.). They seek gain, each “from his quarter” or denomination. (John 5:44; Matt. 23:6-12; Isa. 56:11) These things, along with “the fear of man” which “bringeth a snare” (Prov. 29:25) hinder even some of God’s true servants from faithfulness, while apparently many of the under-shepherds never had any interest in the Lord’s flock except to secure the golden fleece.

While we gladly acknowledge that many who are educated, cultivated, refined and pious have been and are now included among the clergy in all the various denominations of the nominal church, which all through the age has included both wheat and tares (Matt. 13:30), we are forced to admit that many who belong to the “tare” class have found their way into the pulpits as well as into the pews. Indeed, the temptations to pride and vainglory, and in many cases to ease and affluence, have guaranteed it to be so to a large extent.

THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF CHRISTENDOM

The responsibility of those who have undertaken the gospel ministry in the name of Christ is very great. They stand very prominently before the people as the representatives of Christ – as special exponents of His spirit, and expounders of His truth. As a class, they have had advantages above other men for coming to a knowledge of the truth and for freely declaring it. They have been relieved from the burdens of toil and care in earning a livelihood which fetter others, and with their temporal wants supplied, have been granted time, quiet leisure, special education, and numerous helps of association, etc., for this very purpose.

On the one hand, there have been great opportunities for pious zeal and devoted self-sacrifice for the cause of truth and righteousness. On the other hand, there have been great temptations, either to indolent ease, or to ambition for fame, wealth or power. Alas! the vast majority of the clergy have evidently succumbed to the temptations, rather than embraced and used the opportunities of their positions. As a result, they are today “blind leaders of the blind,” and together they and their flocks are fast stumbling into the ditch of skepticism. They have hidden the truth (because it is unpopular), advanced error (because it is popular) and taught for doctrine the precepts of men (because paid to do so). They have, in effect, and sometimes in so many words, said to the people, “Believe what we tell you on our authority,” instead of directing them to “prove all things” by the divinely inspired words of the Apostles and Prophets, and “hold fast” only “that which is good.”

For long centuries the clergy of the Church of Rome kept the Word of God buried in dead languages, and would not permit its translation into the vernacular tongues, lest the people might search the Scriptures and thus prove the vanity of her pretensions. In the course of time a few godly reformers arose from the midst of her corruption, rescued the Bible from oblivion and brought it forth to the people. The result was a great protestant movement – protesting against the false doctrines and evil practices of the Church of Rome.

But before long Protestantism also became corrupt, and her clergy began to formulate creeds and teach the people to look upon them as epitomized doctrines of the Bible, and of paramount importance. They have lulled the people to sleep, leading them to believe that their safe course in religious matters is to commit all questions of doctrine to the clergy, and to follow their instructions. They have insinuated that they alone had the education, etc., necessary to the comprehension of divine truth, and that they, therefore, should be considered authorities in all such matters without further appeal to God’s Word. When any presumed to question this assumed authority and to think differently, they were regarded as heretics and schismatics. In this way generation after generation of the “clergy” has followed the beaten track of traditional error, and only occasionally has one been sufficiently awake and loyal to the truth to discover error and cry out for reform. It has been so much easier to drift with the popular current, especially when great men led the way.

The power and superior advantages of the clergy as a class have thus been misused, although in their ranks there have been (and still are) some earnest, devout souls who thought they were doing God service in upholding the false systems into which they had been led, and by whose errors they also had been in a great measure blinded.

While these reflections will doubtless seem offensive to many of the clergy, especially to the proud and self-seeking, we have no fear that their candid presentation will give offense to any of the meek who, if they recognize the truth, will be blessed by a humble confession of the same and a full determination to walk in the light of God as it shines from His Word, regardless of human traditions. But unfortunately, the majority of the clergy are not of the meek class, and again we are obliged to realize the force of the Master’s words – “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:23) This is true whether those riches be of reputation, fame, learning, money, or even common ease.

It is significant that in the end of the Jewish Age the religious leaders asked the people, “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?” (John 7:48) In accepting their suggestion and blindly submitting to their leading, some missed their privilege, and failed to enter into the blessings of the new dispensation. It will be so with a similar class in these last days of the Gospel dispensation. Those who blindly follow the leading of the clergy will fall with them into the ditch of skepticism. Only those who faithfully walk with God, partaking of His spirit, and humbly relying upon all the testimonies of His precious Word, shall be able to discern and discard the “stubble” of error which has long been mixed with the truth, and boldly to stand fast in the faith of the gospel and in loyalty of heart to God. The masses will drift off in the popular current toward infidelity in its various forms – Evolution, Higher Criticism, Theosophy, Christian Science, Spiritism, or other theories denying the necessity and merit of the great Calvary sacrifice.

But those who successfully stand in this “evil day” (Eph. 6:13) will, in so doing, prove the metal of their Christian character. So strong will be the current against them, that only true Christian devotion to God, zeal, courage and fortitude will be able to endure to the end. These oncoming waves of infidelity will surely carry all others before them. It is written: “He that dwelleth in the secret place [of consecration, communion and fellowship] of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust . . . He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler . . . A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.” (Psa. 91)

Individual Christians cannot shirk their personal responsibility, placing it upon pastors and teachers, nor upon councils and creeds. It is by the Word of the Lord that we are judged (John 12:48-50; Rev. 20:12), and not by the opinions or precedents of our fellowmen in any capacity. Therefore, all should imitate the noble Bereans who “searched the scriptures daily” to see if the things taught them were true. (Acts 17:11) It is our duty as Christians individually to prove all things before we accept them, and to hold fast to that which is good. (1 Thess. 5:21) “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isa. 8:20)

The same principle holds in temporal, as well as in spiritual things. While the various ships of state are drifting onward to destruction, those who see the breakers ahead, while they cannot alter the course of events in general, can to some extent seize present opportunities to wisely regulate their own conduct in view of the inevitable catastrophe. They can make ready the lifeboats and the life preservers, so that when the ships of state are wrecked in the surging sea of anarchy, they may keep their heads above the waves and find a rest beyond. In other words, the wise policy and principle in these days is to deal justly, generously and kindly with our fellowmen in every rank and condition of life.

The great trouble will spring from the intense wrath of the angry nations – from the dissatisfaction and indignation of the enlightened masses of the people against the more fortunate, aristocratic and ruling classes. The subjects of dissatisfaction are at present being widely discussed; and now, before the storm of wrath bursts, is the time for individuals to make known their principles, not only by their words, but by their conduct in all their relations with their fellowmen. Now is the time to study and apply the principles of the golden rule – to learn to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to act accordingly. If men were wise enough to consider what, in the very near future, must be the outcome of the present course of things, they would do this from policy, if not from principle.

In the coming trouble it is but reasonable to presume that, even in the midst of the wildest confusion, those who have shown themselves just, generous and kind will be favored and those who have practiced and defended oppression will suffer extreme wrath. It was so in the midst of the horrors of the French Revolution, and that it will be so again is intimated by the counsel of the Word of the Lord: “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteous­ness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” (Zeph. 2:3) “Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” (Psa. 34:14-16)

These words of wisdom and warning are to the world in general. As for the “saints,” the “little flock,” the “overcomers,” they are promised that they shall be accounted worthy to escape all those things coming upon the world. (Luke 21:36)

HEATHEN NATIONS NOT WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY

While the fierce anger of the Lord is to be visited especially upon the nations of Christendom because they have sinned against much light and privilege, the Scriptures clearly show that the heathen nations have not been without responsibility, and will not go unpunished. For many generations and through many centuries, they have taken pleasure in unrighteousness.

The Apostle Paul plainly tells us the responsibility borne by these nations who have suppressed the truth by their wickedness. They have no excuse because nature attests to the existence, power and goodness of God, and their own consciences should indicate what is right and wrong: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unright­eousness of men, who hold the truth in unright­eousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” (Rom. 1:18-20)

The heathen nations long ago suppressed what truth was known in the early ages of the world concerning God and His righteousness. Out of their evil and vain imaginations, they invented false religions which justified their evil ways. Succeeding generations have endorsed and justified the evil course of their forefathers, thus assuming their guilt and condemnation, on the very same principle that the present nations of Christendom also assume the obligations of their preceding generations.

Yet the heathen nations have not been wholly oblivious to the fact that a great light has come into the world through Jesus Christ. Here and there a few individuals have heeded the truth, but in general the nations have disregarded it, and walked on in darkness. Therefore “the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations.” (Isa. 34:2) The heathen nations are now, without the gospel and its advantages, judged unworthy of a continued lease of power, while the so-called Christian nations, with the gospel light and privileges of which they have not been proven worthy, are by its standard of truth and righteousness also judged unworthy of continued power. Thus, all the world stands guilty before God. “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.” (Rom. 3:11-12)

The justice of God in punishing all nations is manifest, and while the heathen nations will receive the just reward of their doings, let not the greater responsibility of Christendom be forgotten. For if the Jews had advantage “much every way” over the Gentile nations, chiefly in “that unto them were committed the oracles of God” (Rom. 3:1-2), what shall we say of the nations of Christendom, with their still greater advantages of both the Law and the Gospel? Yet it is true today of Christendom, as it was then of the Jewish nation, that the name of God is blasphemed among the heathen through them. (Rom. 2:24) For instance, note the liquor and opium traffics imposed upon the heathen nations by the greed of the Christian nations for gold.

It is even said that some among the heathen are holding up the Christian’s Bible before them, and saying, “Your practices do not correspond with the teachings of your sacred book.” (See Ezek. 22:4) Truly, if the men of Nineveh and the queen of the south shall rise up in judgment against the generation of Israel which the Lord directly addressed (Matt. 12:41-42), then Israel and every previous generation, and the heathen nations shall rise up against this generation of Christendom; for where much has been given, much will be required. (Luke 12:48)

But dropping the morally retributive aspect of the question, we see how, in the very nature of the case, the heathen nations must suffer in the fall of Christendom, Babylon. Through the influences of the Word of God, direct and indirect, the Christian nations have made great advancements in civilization and material prosperity along every line, so that in wealth, comfort, intellectual development, education, civil government, science, art, manufacture, commerce and every branch of human industry, they are far in advance of the heathen nations which have not been so favored with the civilizing influences of the oracles of God, but which, on the contrary, have experienced a steady decline, so that today they exhibit only the wrecks of their former prosperity. Compare for example, the Greece of today with ancient Greece, which was once the seat of learning and affluence. Mark, too, the present ruins of the glory of ancient Egypt, once the chief nation of the whole earth.

As a result of the decline of the heathen nations and the civilization and prosperity of the Christian nations, the former are all more or less indebted to the latter for many advantages received – for the benefits of commerce, of international communication and a consequent enlargement of ideas, etc. The march of progress in recent years has linked all the nations in various common interests, which, if seriously unsettled in one or more of the nations, soon affects all. Hence when Babylon, Christendom, goes down suddenly, the effects will be most serious upon all the more or less dependent nations, which, in the symbolic language of Revelation, are therefore represented as greatly bewailing the fall of that great city Babylon. (Rev. 18:9-19)

But the heathen nations will not suffer alone in Babylon’s fall, for the swelling waves of social and political commotion will quickly spread and involve and engulf them all. Thus, the whole earth will be swept with the “besom of destruction” and the “haughtiness of men” will be brought low. (Isa. 14:23; Isa. 2:11) For it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Rom. 12:19; Deut. 32:35) And the judgment of the Lord upon both Christendom and Heathendom will be on the strictest lines of equity.

To be continued in our October 2024 paper.

(Excerpt from Studies in the Scriptures, Volume IV, Chapter III, pages 47-73, condensed and edited. Lengthy quotations have been omitted.)

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NO. 804: "THE DAY OF VENGEANCE - PART TWO

No. 804

Part Two – Mother and Daughters

“And upon her forehead was a name written, mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” (Rev. 17:5)

This is a continuation from our July 2024 paper on “The Day of Vengeance.”

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The various Protestant sects (with all due respect to the comparatively few devout souls among them) are the true daughters of that degenerate system of nominal Christianity, the Papacy. Both Catholics and Protestants now freely own the relationship of mother and daughters, the former continually styling themselves as the Holy Mother Church, and the latter, with pleased complacency, endorsing the idea. Thus their “glory is in their shame.” (Phil. 3:19)

They are unmindful of the brand which they thus accept from the Word of God, which designates the Papacy as “the mother of harlots.” Nor does the Papacy ever seem to have questioned her right to the office of motherhood or to have considered its incompatibility with her assertion to be the only true Church, which the Scriptures designate to be a “virgin” espoused to Christ. Her acknowledged claims of motherhood are to the everlasting shame of both herself and her offspring. The true Church is still a chaste virgin, true to Christ, and dear to Him as the apple of His eye. (Zech. 2:8; Psa. 17:6, 8)

Since Papacy, the mother, is not a single individual, but a great religious system, in keeping with the symbol we should expect to see other religious systems answering to the illustration of daughters of similar character – not, of course, so old, nor necessarily so depraved, as Papacy – but nevertheless, “harlots” in the same sense; i.e., religious systems claiming to be either the espoused virgin or the bride of Christ, and yet courting the favor and receiving the support of the world, at the price of disloyalty to Christ. To this description the various Protestant organizations fully correspond. They are the great daughter systems.

The birth of these various daughter systems came in connection with reforms from the corruptions of the mother Church. When the daughter systems parted from the mother, they contained more than true reformers. They also contained many who still had the spirit of the mother, and they inherited many of her false doctrines and theories. It was not long until they fell into many of her bad practices and proved their characters true to the prophetic stigma – “harlots.”

While the various reformation movements did valuable work in the “cleansing of the sanctuary,” only the temple class, the sanctuary class, has ever been the true Church in God’s reckoning. The great human systems called churches have never been more than nominally the Church. They all belong to a false system which counterfeits, misrepresents and hides from the world the true Church, which is composed only of fully consecrated and faithful believers, who trust in the merit of the one great sacrifice for sins. These are to be found scattered here and there within and outside of these human systems, yet always separate from their worldly spirit. They are the “wheat” class of our Lord’s parable, clearly distinguished by Him from the “tares.”

Not comprehending the real character of these systems, as individuals they have humbly walked with God, taking His Word as their counselor and His spirit as their guide. Nor have they ever been at ease in nominal Zion, where they have often painfully observed that the spirit of the world, operating through the unrecognized “tare” element, endangered spiritual prosperity. They are the blessed mourners in Zion, to whom God appointed “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning.” (Matt. 5:4; Isa. 61:3) It is only in this “harvest” time that the separation of this class from the “tare” element is due; for it was the Lord’s purpose to “let both grow together until the harvest.” (Matt. 13:30)

As predicted by the Prophet, the various reform movements were corrupted by “flatteries.” (Dan. 11:32-35) After accomplishing a measure of cleansing, each one stopped short, and, so far as they found it practicable, they imitated the example of the Church of Rome in courting and receiving the favor of the world at the expense of their virtue – their fidelity to Christ, the true Head of the Church. Church and state again made common cause, in a measure uniting their worldly interests at the expense of the true spiritual interests of the Church. Progress and reform in the Church were again at a standstill. Indeed, a retrograde movement set in, so that today many of them are much farther from the proper standard, both of faith and practice, than in the days of their founders.

Some of the reformed churches were even admitted to share in authority and power with earthly rulers; as, for instance, the Church of England, and the Lutheran Church in Germany. And those who have not succeeded to that extent have (as in the United States, for instance) made many compromising overtures to the world for smaller favors. It is also true that while the world powers have advanced the worldly ambitions of the unfaithful church, the church has also freely admitted the world to her communion and fellowship; and so freely, that the baptized worldlings now form the large majority of her membership, filling nearly every important position, and thus dominating her.

This was the disposition which degraded the church in the beginning of the age, which brought about the great “falling away” (2 Thess. 2:3, 7-10), and which gradually, but rapidly, developed the Papal system. This loose character, early assumed by the various reform movements, and which gradually developed sectarian organizations, continues to the present day. The more these organizations grow in wealth, numbers and influence, the further they fall from Christian virtue and develop the arrogance of their mother.

A few earnest Christians in the various sects observe this to some extent, and with shame and sorrow confess and lament it. They see that every possible effort is made by the various sectarian organizations to please the world and to court its favor and secure its patronage. Elegant and costly church edifices, lofty spires, chiming bells, grand organs, fine furnishments, artistic choirs, polished orators, fairs, festivals, concerts, plays, lotteries and questionable amusements and pastimes are all arranged with a view to securing the world’s approval and support. The grand and wholesome doctrines of Christ are thrust to the background, while false doctrines and sensational topics take their place in the pulpit, the truth is ignored and forgotten, and the spirit of it lost. In these particulars how truly the daughters resemble the mother organization!

Nearly all the doctrinal errors so tenaciously held by Protestants were brought with them from Rome, although considerable progress was made by each of the reform movements beyond the gross errors of Papacy, such as the sacrifice of the mass, saint worship, worship of the virgin Mary, the granting of indulgences, etc. But unfortunately, Protestants of today are not only willing, but anxious, to make almost any compromise to secure the favor and assistance of the old “mother” from whose tyranny and villainy their fathers fled three centuries ago. Even those principles of truth which at first formed the ground of protest are being gradually forgotten or openly repudiated. The very foundation doctrine of “justification by faith” in the “continual sacrifice” is rapidly giving way to the old Papal dogma of justification by works and by the sacrilegious sacrifice of the mass (as among Anglicans and Episcopalians). In both pulpits and pews, numbers now openly declare that they have no faith in the efficacy of the precious blood of Christ as the ransom-price for sinners.

The claims of apostolic succession and clerical authority are almost as presumptuously set forth by some of the Protestant clergy as by the Papal priesthood. And the right of individual private judgment – the very fundamental principle which led to the Great Reformation – is now almost as strenuously opposed by Protestants as by Papists. Protestants are fully aware that it was in the exercise of the right of private judgment that the Reformation was begun and for a short time carried forward, although later a presumptuous domination of recognized leaders retarded the wheels of progress, and has, ever since, kept them strictly within the traditional lines and put a ban upon all who fearlessly step beyond them.

Thus viewed, Protestantism is no longer a “protest” against the mother church, as it was at first. As one writer remarked, “The ism is still with us, but what has become of the protest?” Protestants seem to have forgotten the very grounds of the original protest, and as systems they are fast drifting back toward the open arms of the so-called “Holy Mother Church,” where they are freely invited and assured of a cordial reception.

It is clear, therefore, that while many faithful souls, ignorant of the real state of the case, have reverently and devoutly worshiped God within these Babylon systems, nevertheless, this does not alter the fact that they are, one and all, “harlot” systems. Confusion reigns in them all; and the name Babylon aptly fits the entire family – mother, daughters and accomplices, the nations styled Christendom. (Rev. 18:7; Rev. 17:2-6, 18)

Let it be borne in mind then, that in the great politico-ecclesiastical systems which men call Christendom, but which God calls Babylon, we have not only the foundation but also the superstructure and the crowning pinnacle of the present social order. This is implied in the generally accepted term, Christendom, which of late is applied, not only to those nations which support Christian sects by legislation and taxation, but also to all nations which show tolerance to Christianity without in any definite manner favoring or supporting it, as, for instance, these United States.

The doctrine of “the divine right of kings,” taught or supported by almost every sect, is the foundation of the old civil system, and has long given authority, dignity and stability to the kingdoms of Europe. The doctrine of the divine appointment and authority of the clergy has hindered God’s children from progressing in divine things and bound them by the chains of superstition and ignorance to the veneration and adoration of fallible fellow-beings, and to their doctrines, traditions and interpretations of God’s Word.

It is this entire order of things that is to fall and pass away in the battle of this great day – the order of things which for centuries has held the people docile under the ruling powers, civil, social, and religious. All this has been by God’s permission (not by His appointment and approval, as they claim). But though an evil in itself, it has served a good, temporary purpose in preventing anarchy, which is immeasurably worse, because men were not prepared to do better for themselves, and because the time for Christ’s Millennial Kingdom had not yet come. Hence God permitted the various delusions to gain credence in order to hold men in check until “The Time of the End” – the end of “The Times of the Gentiles.”

BABYLON’S DOOM

Upon the prophetic page we may clearly read the doom of Babylon – Christendom – and it is no less clearly expressed in the signs of the times. That Babylon’s destruction will be sudden, violent and complete is forcibly stated: “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her . . . And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus, with violence, shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.” (Rev. 18:8, 21; Jer. 51:63-64, 42, 24-26) And yet that it was to undergo a gradual consuming process was shown by Daniel: “But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.” (Dan. (7:26)

The Papal dominion (and much of the abject reverence of the people for ecclesiasticism in general), was broken down at the beginning of the Time of the End – 1799 (see Studies in the Scriptures, Volume III, Chapter II, page 40). Although the subsequent process of consumption has been slow, and there have been occasional signs of apparent recovery, which never seemed more flattering than at present, the assurance of Papacy’s final destruction is positive, and its death-struggle will be violent. First, however, she must attain more of her old-time prestige, which will be shared with a confederated association of her daughters. Together they will be lifted up, that together they may be violently thrown down.

That the punishment of Babylon will be great is assured. Read the prophetic writings:

“And great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.” (Rev. 16:19)

“For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.” (Rev. 19:2)

“For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” (Rev. 18:5-7)

While the broadest application of this language is, of course, to Papacy, it also involves all who are in any degree in confederation or sympathy with her. All such will be sharers in her plagues. (Rev. 18:4) Although the kings of the earth have hated the harlot and cast her off (Rev. 17:16), still she loudly boasts of her right to rule the nations, and claims that her former power will soon be regained.

As the day of trouble draws on, ecclesiasticism will endeavor to use its power and influence more and more to secure its own political welfare, by its control of the turbulent elements of society; but in the crisis of the near future the lawless element will spurn all conservative influence and break over all restraints, the red hand of Anarchy will do its dreadful work, and Babylon, Christendom, social, political and ecclesiastical, shall fall.

“Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” (Rev. 18:8)

“Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me [all in sympathy with Babylon], a destroying wind; And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about . . . destroy ye utterly all her host.” (Jer. 51:1-3)

“And I will render unto Babylon [to the Papacy specially] and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea [or Babylonia – Christendom – to all the nations of the so-called Christian world] all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the Lord.” (Jer. 51:24)

As we call to mind the long train of evils by which Babylon has oppressed and worn out the saints of the most High (the true Zion), and how it is written that God will avenge His own elect (Luke 18:7-8; Isa. 59:18; Jer. 51:6), we begin to realize that some fearful calamity awaits her. The horrible decrees of Papacy – the reproach and reward of which Protestantism also is incurring by her present compromising association with her – for the burning, butchering, banishing, imprisoning and torturing of the saints in every conceivable way, await the full measure of just retribution; for she is to receive “double for all her sins.” And the nations (of Christendom) which have participated in her crimes and guilt must drink with her to the dregs that bitter cup.

“And I will punish Bel in Babylon [the god of Babylon – the Pope], and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up [he will retract the blasphemous titles he has appropriated to himself]: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon [the civil power that has defended it] shall fall . . . Thus saith the Lord of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire [destroyed].” (Jer. 51:44, 58) Babylon shall go down, never again to rise; “for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” Only then will the people realize their wonderful deliverance, and that her overthrow was by the hand of God. (Rev. 19:1-2)

Such is the doom of Babylon, Christendom, which Isaiah and other Prophets foresaw and foretold. It is in view of the fact that within Babylon’s borders are many of His own dear people that the Lord, through His Prophet, commands His sanctified ones to earnestly and widely proclaim the truth to the bewildered sheep still in Babylon: “Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.” (Isa. 13:2)

The warning voice goes forth to those with “an ear to hear.” We are in the time of the last or Laodicean stage of the great nominal gospel church of wheat and tares. (Rev. 3:14-22) She is upbraided for her lukewarmness, pride, spiritual poverty, blindness and nakedness, and counseled to forsake quickly her evil ways before it is too late. But the Lord knew that only a few would hearken to the warning and call; and so the promise of reward is given, not to the whole mass of those addressed, but to the few who still have an ear for the truth, and who overcome the general disposition and spirit of Babylon: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” But upon those who have no ear, no disposition to hear, the Lord will pour His indignation.

It is manifest to the most casual observer that, with a few individual exceptions, the attitude of all Christendom is that of pride, self-righteousness and self-complacency. She still says in her heart, “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” She still glorifies herself, lives deliciously, claims to have need of nothing. and does not realize that she is miserable, poor, blind, and naked. (Rev. 3:17) Nor does she heed the counsel of the Lord: “I counsel thee to buy of me [at cost of self-sacrifice] gold tried in the fire [true, heavenly riches], that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment [the robe of Christ’s imputed righteousness], that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes [of understanding] with eyesalve [of truth], that thou mayest see.” (Rev. 3:18)

The spirit of the world has so fully taken possession of the ecclesiastical powers of Christendom, that their reformation is impossible. Individuals can escape their fate only by a prompt and timely withdrawal from them. The hour of judgment is come, and even now upon her walls the warning hand of divine providence is tracing the mysterious words, “mene, mene, tekel, upharsin.” They have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. And the Prophet Isaiah now speaks, saying:

“Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.” (Isa. 47:1) This is said in derision of Babylon’s claim to purity.

“Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.” (Isa. 47:3)

“Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms . . . And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.” (Isa. 47:5, 7)

“Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.” (Isa. 47:8-9; compare Rev. 18:7-8)

“For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy [worldly] wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.” (Isa. 47:10-11)

Given these solemn declarations against Babylon, well will it be for all who heed the warning voice and the instruction of the Lord to His people yet within her borders: “Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense . . . Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed . . . We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her . . . for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies . . . My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord.” (Jer. 51:6, 8, 9, 45; compare Rev. 17:3-6; Rev. 18:1-5)

For those who would obey this command to come out of Babylon, there is but one place of refuge; and that is, not in a new sect and bondage, but in “the secret place of the most High” – the place or condition of entire consecration, typified by the Most Holy of the Tabernacle and Temple. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.” (Psa. 91:1-2)

To come out of Babylon cannot mean a physical emigration from the midst of the nations of Christendom; for not only Christendom, but all the earth, is to be devoured with the fiery trouble of the Lord’s anger, though the fiercest of His wrath will be against the enlightened nations of Christendom, who knew, or at least had abundant opportunity to know, the Lord’s will. The idea of the command is to separate from all the binding yokes of Christendom – to have no part nor lot in her civil, social or religious organizations; and this, both from principle and from a wise and divinely directed policy.

On principle, as soon as the increased light of harvest truth illuminates our minds and makes manifest the deformities of error, we must be loyal to the former and discard the latter by withdrawing all our influence and support from it. This implies the withdrawal from the various religious organizations, whose doctrines misrepresent and make void the Word of God. It places us in the position of aliens toward all existing civil powers; not opposing aliens, however, but peaceable and law-abiding aliens, who render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.

Principle in some cases, and policy in others, would separate us from the various social arrangements among men. As we come closer and closer to the great crisis of this “evil day” it will doubtless be manifest to those who view the situation from the standpoint of “the sure word of prophecy,” that, even if there be cases where principle is not involved, it will be the part of wisdom to withdraw from the various social and financial bondages which must inevitably succumb to the ravages of world-wide revolution and anarchy. These caves and rocks of the mountains will not furnish the desired protection from the wrath of this “evil day,” when the great waves of popular discontent are lashing and foaming against the mountains (kingdoms – see Rev. 6:15-17; Psa. 46:3). The time will come when: “They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.” (Ezek. 7:19; compare also verses 12-18, 21, 25-27) Thus will the Lord make a man’s life more precious than fine gold, even the “golden wedge of Ophir.” (Isa. 13:12)

Those who have made the Most High their refuge need not fear the approach of such times. He shall cover them with His feathers, and under His wings shall they trust; yea, He will show them His salvation. (Psa. 91) As the wildest confusion approaches, they may comfort their hearts with the blessed assurance that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed [the present social order overthrown], and though the mountains [kingdoms] be carried into the midst of the sea [overthrown in anarchy]; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” God will be in the midst of His faithful saints, who make Him their refuge, and they shall not be moved. God will help Zion early in the Millennial morning. (Psa. 46)

“Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:36)

(Excerpt from Studies in the Scriptures, Volume IV, Chapter II, pages 28-46, condensed and edited.)

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NO. 803: “THE DAY OF VENGEANCE” - PART ONE

No. 803

Part One – Edom and Babylon

“For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.” (Isa. 63:4) “For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.” (Isa. 34:8)

This is how the Prophet Isaiah referred to that period described by Daniel as “a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.” (Dan. 12:1) Malachi said of this period, “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble.” (Mal. 4:1) The Apostle James said of it that the rich shall weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon them. (Jas. 5:1-6) Joel described it as “a day of clouds and of thick darkness.” (Joel 2:2) Amos described it as a “very dark” day with “no brightness in it.” (Amos 5:20) The Lord Jesus referred to it as a time of “great tribulation,” so ruinous in its character that, if it were not cut short, no flesh would survive its ravages. (Matt. 24:21-22)

Many scriptures make clear that the dark and gloomy day described by the Prophets is a day of judgment upon mankind socially and nationally – a day of national recompenses. Note that there is a difference between national judgment and individual judgment. While nations are composed of individuals who are largely responsible for the conduct of the nations, and those individuals suffer greatly in the calamities which befall the nations, nevertheless, the judgment of the world as individuals will be distinct from its judgment as nations.

The day of individual judgment for the world will be the Millennial Age. (See Studies in the Scriptures, Volume I, Chapter VIII) Under the favorable conditions of the New Covenant, and with a clear knowledge of the truth and every possible assistance and incentive to righteousness, all men will then be on trial for eternal life individually. The judgment of nations, now imminent, is a judgment of men in their collective (religious and civil) capacities. The civil institutions of the world have had a long lease of power; and now, as the “Times of the Gentiles” come to a close, they must render up their accounts. The Lord’s judgment, expressed beforehand by the Prophets, is that not one of those institutions will be found worthy of a renewal of that lease or a continuance of life. The decree is that the dominion shall be taken from them, and that He “whose right it is” shall take the Kingdom, and the nations shall be given to Him for an inheritance. (Ezek. 21:27; Dan. 7:27; Psa. 2:8; Rev. 2:26-27)

Hear the Word of the Lord to the nations assembled before Him for judgment:

“Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies.” (Isa. 34:1-2)

“But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.” (Jer. 10:10)

“A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations . . . Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind [intense trouble and commotion] shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth.” (Jer. 25:31-33)

“Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth [present social order] shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.” (Zeph. 3:8-9)

It is not our purpose to cause a sensation or to arouse idle curiosity. Nor can we hope to prompt the hearts of men to penitence or change the present social, political and religious order, thus averting the impending calamity. No hand but the hand of God could stay the progress of the present current of events; and His hand will not do so until the bitter experiences of this conflict have sealed their instruction upon the hearts of men. Our main object is not, therefore, to enlighten the world, but to forewarn, forearm, comfort, encourage and strengthen “the household of faith,” so that they may see by faith the glorious outcome – the permanent establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, under Christ, the Prince of Peace.

Taking his standpoint at the end of the harvest of the Gospel Age, the Prophet Isaiah beheld a mighty Conqueror, glorious in His apparel (clothed with authority and power), and riding forth victoriously over all His enemies, with whose blood all His garments are stained. He inquired who the wonderful stranger was: “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength?” (Isa. 63:1)

EDOM SOLD HIS BIRTHRIGHT

Edom was the name given to Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, after he sold his birthright for a mess of “red pottage.” (Gen. 25:30-34) The name was also subsequently applied both to the people descended from him and to the country in which they settled. (See Gen. 25:30; Gen. 36:1; Num. 20:18, 20-21; Jer. 49:17) Consequently, the name Edom is an appropriate symbol for a class who, in this age, have similarly sold their birthright for a trifling consideration.

The Prophets frequently used the name Edom to represent that great company of professed Christians sometimes called “the Christian World,” and “Christendom” (i.e., Christ’s Kingdom). These names show a great lack of understanding of the true object and character of Christ’s Kingdom, and the appointed time and manner of its establishment. They are simply boastful appellations which belie the truth presented by the groans of the oppressed and the mutterings of the angry nations. Do these constitute Christ’s Kingdom – a true Christendom? The fallacy of the boastful claim is plain to see.

The fitness of the symbolic name “Edom” in its application to Christendom is very marked. The nations of so-called Christendom have had privileges above all the other nations. To them, as to the Israelites of the previous age, have been committed “the oracles of God.” (Rom. 3:2) Both directly and indirectly, all the blessings of civilization have come to these nations as a result of the enlightening influences of the Word of God. The presence in their midst of a few saints (a “little flock”), developed under its influence, has been as “the salt of the earth,” preserving it to some extent from utter moral corruption. By their godly examples and their energy in holding forth the Word of life, they have been “the light of the world,” showing men the way back to God and righteousness. However, only a few in these favored nations have made proper use of their advantages, which have come to them by reason of their birth in the lands so blessed with the direct and indirect influences of the Word of God.

Like Esau, the masses of Christendom have sold their birthright. By the masses, we mean not only the agnostic portion, but also the great majority of worldly professors of the religion of Christ. They are Christians in name only. They lack the life of Christ in them. They have preferred present earthly advantage to all the blessings of communion and fellowship with God and Christ, and to the glorious inheritance with Christ promised to those who faithfully follow in His footsteps of sacrifice. They are the nominal spiritual Israel of the Gospel Age, of which “Israel after the flesh” in the Jewish Age was a type. They really have little or no respect for the promises of God.

They are indeed a mighty host, bearing the name of Christ and posing before the world as the Church of Christ. They have built up great organizations representing various schisms in the professed body of Christ. They have written massive volumes of so-called “systematic theology,” and have founded numerous colleges and seminaries to teach that theology. They have done “many wonderful works” in the name of Christ, which were often, nevertheless, contrary to the teachings of His Word. (Matt. 7:22) The Edom class who have sold their birthright includes almost all of “Christendom.”

As all of the land of Edom symbolizes all of “Christendom,” so its capital city, Bozrah, represents ecclesiasticism, the chief citadel of Christendom. The name Bozrah signifies “sheepfold,” and the slaughter of the day of vengeance is said to be of the “lambs and goats.” (Isa. 34:6) The reply to the Prophet’s inquiry about who came from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah is this: “I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” (Isa. 63:1 ) It is the same mighty one described by the Revelator (Rev. 19:11-16), the “King of kings and Lord of lords,” Jehovah’s Anointed, our blessed Redeemer and Lord Jesus.

THE TREADING OF THE WINEPRESS

The Prophet inquired further: “Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?” Hear the reply: “I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.” (Isa. 63:2-4) The Revelator added, “And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” (Rev. 19:15)

The treading of the winepress is the last feature of harvest work. The reaping and gathering is all done first. (See Studies in the Scriptures, Volume III, Chapter VI) The fact that the King of kings is represented as treading the winepress “alone” indicates that the power exerted for the overthrow of the nations will be divine power, and not mere human energy. It will be God’s power that will punish the nations: “And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips [the force and spirit of His truth] shall he slay the wicked.” (Isa. 11:4; Rev. 19:15; Psa. 98:1)

The honors of the coming victory for truth and righteousness can be ascribed to no human generalship. Wild will be the conflict of the angry nations, and world-wide will be the battlefield and the distress of nations; and no human Alexander, Caesar, or Napoleon will be found to bring order out of the dreadful confusion. But in the end, it will be known that the grand victory of justice and truth, and the punishment of iniquity with its just deserts, was brought about by the mighty power of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

All of these things are to be accomplished in the closing days of the Gospel Age, because, as the Lord states through the Prophet, “For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.” (Isa. 34:8) All through the Gospel Age the Lord has taken cognizance of the controversy, the strife and contention in nominal Zion. He has observed how His faithful saints have had to contend for truth and righteousness, and even to suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake at the hands of those who opposed them in the name of the Lord. For wise purposes the Lord has hitherto refrained from interfering; but now the day of recompenses has come, and the Lord has a controversy with them.

As it is written, “Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish.” (Hos. 4:1-3) This prophecy, so true in its fulfilment upon fleshly Israel, is doubly so in its fuller application to nominal spiritual Israel – Christendom.

“A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord.” (Jer. 25:31) “Hear ye now what the Lord saith . . . Hear ye, O mountains [kingdoms], the Lord’s controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.” (Micah 6:1-2)

Hear again the Prophet Isaiah speak (from the future standpoint) concerning this controversy: “Come near, ye nations, to hear; and harken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.” (Isa. 34:1-2)

The Lord will thus smite the nations and cause them to know His power, and He will deliver His faithful people who go not with the multitudes in the way of evil, but who wholly follow the Lord their God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. And even this terrible judgment upon the world, as nations, thus dashing them to pieces as a potter’s vessel, will prove a valuable lesson to them when they come forth to an individual judgment under the Millennial reign of Christ. Thus, in His wrath, the Lord will remember mercy.

THE DOOM OF BABYLON

“The burden [doom] of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see . . . Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them . . . Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it . . . And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible . . . I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.” (Isa. 13:1-13; compare Rev. 16:14; Heb. 12:26-29)

The symbolic Edom of Isaiah’s prophecy corresponds to the symbolic Babylon of the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation. These various prophecies concerning Babylon are all in full accord, and manifestly refer to the same great city. And since these prophecies had but a very limited fulfilment upon the ancient, literal city, and those of Revelation were written centuries after the literal Babylon was laid in ruins, it is clear that the special reference of all the Prophets is to something of which the ancient literal Babylon was an illustration. It is clear also that, in so far as the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah concerning its downfall were accom­plished upon the literal city, it became in its downfall, as well as in its character, an illustration of the great city to which the Revelator points in the symbolic language of the Apocalypse (Chapters 17 and 18), and to which chiefly the other Prophets refer.

What is today known as Christendom is the antitype of ancient Babylon; and therefore, the solemn warnings and predictions of the Prophets against Babylon – Christendom – are matters of deepest concern to the present generation. Would that men were wise enough to consider them! Though various other symbolic names, such as Edom, Ephraim, Ariel, etc., are applied to Christendom in the Scriptures, this term, “Babylon,” is the one most frequently used, and its significance, confusion, is remarkably appropriate.

The Revelator intimated that it would not be difficult to discover this great mystical city, because her name is in her forehead; that is, she is prominently marked, so that we cannot fail to see her unless we shut our eyes and refuse to look: “And upon her forehead was a name written, mystery, babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” (Rev. 17:5) But before looking for this Mystical Babylon, let us first observe the typical Babylon, and then, with its prominent features in mind, look for the antitype.

The name Babylon was applied, not only to the capital city of the Babylonian empire, but also to the empire itself. Babylon, the capital, was the most magnificent, and probably the largest, city of the ancient world. It was built in the form of a square on both sides of the Euphrates river; and, for protection against invaders, it was surrounded by a deep moat filled with water and enclosed within a vast system of double walls, from thirty-two to eighty-five feet thick, and from seventy-five to three hundred feet high. On the summit were low towers, said to have been two hundred and fifty in number, placed along the outer and inner edges of the wall, tower facing tower; and in these walls were a hundred brazen gates, twenty-five on each side, corresponding to the number of streets which intersected each other at right angles. The city was adorned with splendid palaces and temples and the spoils of conquest.

Nebuchadnezzar was the great monarch of the Babylonian empire, whose long reign covered nearly half the period of its existence, and its grandeur and military glory were chiefly due to him. The city was noted for its wealth and magnificence, which brought a corresponding moral degradation, the sure precursor of its decline and fall. It was wholly given to idolatry, and was full of iniquity. The people were worshipers of Baal, to whom they offered human sacrifices. The deep degradation of their idolatry may be understood from God’s reproof of the Israelites when they became corrupted by contact with them. (Jer. 7:9; Jer. 19:5)

The name originated with the frustrating of the plan for the great tower, called Babel (confusion), because God there confounded human speech; but the native etymology made the name Babil, which, instead of being reproachful, and a reminder of the Lord’s displeasure, signified to them “the gate of God.” The city of Babylon attained a position of prominence and affluence as the capital of the great Babylonian empire, and was called “the golden city,” “the glory of kingdoms,” and “the beauty of Chaldees’ excellency.” (Isa. 14:4; Isa. 13:19)

Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded in the dominion by his grandson Belshazzar, under whose reign came the collapse which pride, fullness of bread and abundance of idleness always ensure and hasten. While the people were abandoning themselves to demoralizing excesses, all uncon­scious of impending danger and following the example of their king, the Persian army, under Cyrus, stealthily crept in through the channel of the Euphrates (from which they had turned aside the water), massacred the revelers, and captured the city. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of that strange handwriting on the wall: “mene, mene, tekel, upharsin,” which Daniel interpreted to mean: “God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it . . . Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting . . . Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” (Dan. 5:25-28) And so complete was the destruction of that great city that even its site was forgotten and was for a long time uncertain.

Such was the typical city; and, like a great millstone cast into the sea, it was sunken centuries ago, never again to rise; even the memory of it has become a reproach and a byword. Now let us look for its antitype, first observing that the Scriptures clearly point it out, and then noting the aptness of the symbolism.

In symbolic prophecy a “city” signifies a religious government backed by power and influence. Thus, for instance, the “holy city, the new Jerusalem,” is the symbol used to represent the established Kingdom of God, the overcomers of the Gospel Church exalted and reigning in glory. The Church is also, and in the same connection, represented as a woman, “the bride, the Lamb’s wife,” in power and glory, and backed by the power and authority of Christ, her husband. “And there came unto me one of the seven angels . . . saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he . . . showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem.” (Rev. 21:9-10)

This same method of interpretation applies to mystical Babylon, the great ecclesiastical kingdom, “that great city,” which is described as a harlot, a fallen woman (an apostate church – for the true Church is a virgin), exalted to power and dominion, and backed, to a considerable degree, by the kings of the earth, the civil powers, which are all more or less intoxicated with her spirit and doctrine. (Rev. 17:1-6) The apostate church lost her virgin purity. Instead of waiting, as an espoused and chaste virgin, for exaltation with the heavenly Bridegroom, she associated herself with the kings of the earth and prostituted her virgin purity – both of doctrine and character – to suit the world’s ideas.

In return she received, and now to some extent exercises, a present dominion, in large measure by the direct and indirect support of the civil powers. This unfaith­fulness to the Lord, whose name she claims, and to her high privilege to be the “chaste virgin” espoused to Christ, is the occasion of the symbolic appellation, “harlot,” while her influence as a sacerdotal empire, full of inconsistency and confusion, is symbolically represented under the name Babylon, which, in its widest sense, as symbolized by the Babylonian empire, we promptly recognize to be Christendom; while in its more restricted sense, as symbolized by the ancient city Babylon, we recognize to be the nominal Christian Church.

The fact that Christendom does not accept the Bible term “Babylon” and its significance – confusion – as being applicable to her, is no proof that it is not so; ancient Babylon also did not recognize the Bible significance – confusion. Ancient Babylon presumed itself to be the very “gate of God” but God labeled it Confusion (Gen. 11:9), and so it is with her antitype today. She calls herself Christendom, the gateway to God and everlasting life, while God calls her Babylon – confusion.

It has been very generally and very properly claimed by Protestants that the name “Babylon” and the prophetic description are applicable to Papacy, though recently a more compromising disposition is less inclined so to apply it. On the contrary, every effort is now made on the part of the sects of Protestantism to conciliate and imitate the Church of Rome, and to affiliate and cooperate with her. In so doing they become part and parcel with her, while they justify her course and fill up the measure of her iniquities, just as surely as did the scribes and Pharisees fill up the measure of their fathers who killed the Prophets. (Matt. 23:31-32)

All this, of course, neither Protestants nor Papists are ready to admit, because in so doing they would be condemning themselves. And this fact is recognized by the Revelator, who shows that all who would get a true view of Babylon must, in spirit, take their position with the true people of God “in the wilderness” – in the condition of separation from the world and worldly ideas and mere forms of godliness, and in the condition of entire consecration and faith­fulness to and dependence upon God alone. “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman . . . And upon her forehead was a name written . . . babylon.” (Rev. 17:3-5)

And since the kingdoms of the civilized world have submitted to be largely dominated by the influence of the great ecclesiastical systems, especially Papacy, accepting from them the label “Christian nations” and “Christendom,” and accepting on their authority the doctrine of the divine right of kings, etc., they also link themselves in with great Babylon, and become part of it, so that, as in the type, the name Babylon applied, not only to the city, but also to the whole empire, here also the symbolic term “Babylon” applies, not only to the great religious organi­zations, Papal and Protestant, but also, in its widest sense, to all Christendom.

Hence this day of judgment upon mystic Babylon is the day of judgment upon all the nations of Christendom; its calamities will involve the entire structure – civil, social and religious; and individuals will be affected by it to the extent of their interest in, and dependence upon, its various organizations and arrangements.

The nations beyond Christendom will also feel the weight of the heavy hand of recompense in that they also are to some extent bound in with the nations of Christendom by various interests, commercial and others; and justly, too, in that they also have failed to appreciate what light they have seen, and have loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19) Thus, as God declared through the Prophet, “For all the earth [society] shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.” (Zeph. 3:8) But because of her greater responsibility and her misuse of favors received, the fierceness of His wrath and indignation will burn against Babylon – Christendom. (Jer. 51:49) “At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.” (Jer. 50:46)

Some sincere Christians, perceiving the unrest and the doctrinal upheavals in all the religious systems, may still be anxiously inquiring: “If all Christendom is to be involved in the doom of Babylon, what will become of Protestantism, the result of The Great Refor­mation?” This is an important question, but Protestantism, as it exists today, is not the result of the Great Reformation, but of its decline. Protestantism now partakes to a large degree of the disposition and character of the Church of Rome, from which its various branches sprang.

To be continued in our August 2024 paper.

(Excerpt from Studies in the Scriptures, Volume IV, Chapters I and II, pages 11-28, condensed and edited.)

Write to us at: epiphanybiblestudents@gmail.com

NO. 802: “EXAMINE YOURSELVES”

No. 802

“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.” (2 Cor. 13:5)

It seems impossible to describe love, this wonderful quality without which nothing is acceptable in the sight of God! In his treatise on love (1 Cor. 13), the Apostle did not attempt to define love, but contented himself with giving us some of its manifestations.[1] Those who possess a love with such characteristics are able to appreciate it, but not able otherwise to explain it. Like life and light, love is difficult to define, and our best endeavors to comprehend it are in terms of its effects. Love is of God; it is god-likeness in the heart, tongue, action, and thought – supervising and seeking to control all our human qualities. Where love is lacking, the results are more or less evil; where love is present, the results are good according to the degree of love present.

For the Christian, an outward manifestation of amiability, meekness, gentleness, patience, etc., is not sufficient, either in God’s sight or in his own. These graces must be produced by the spirit of love filling and expanding within his own heart. Many of the graces of the Spirit are recognized by the unregenerate and are imitated as marks of good breeding, and in many cases are successfully worn as a cloak or mask, covering hearts and sentiments wholly antagonistic to the holy spirit of love.

The amount of our appreciation of divine love will be the amount of our zeal in conforming our characters to the divine pattern. A naturally rough, uncouth, and depraved disposition may require a long time after the grace of divine love enters the heart before that grace is manifest in all outward thoughts, words, and acts. Others with a gentler disposition and good training may have many outward refinements without having the grace of God within. Only He who reads the heart is competent, therefore, to judge as to who have and who have not received this grace, and of the degree of its development in their hearts. Each one may judge himself, however, and should seek to let the light of love shine out in all communications with his fellow-creatures, thus glorifying his Father in Heaven and showing forth the praises of He who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Pet. 2:9)

Among the “gifts” of early Apostolic times, “prophecy” (oratory) was highly regarded. Knowledge of the mysteries of God was also highly regarded, and having a large faith was reckoned as being among the chief of Christian requirements, hence the Apostle Paul’s counsel to “examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.” Yet we are not to understand that one could have a knowledge of the deep mysteries of God without having the Holy Spirit of Love: “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God . . . even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” (1 Cor. 2:10-11) The Apostle declared that if he possessed all of these gifts in their fullest measure, and love were absent, he would be nothing – he would not be a member of the New Creation at all, since love is the very spirit of the begetting to the new nature. (1 Cor. 13:1-3)

In the measure of character, therefore, we are to put love first, and to consider it the chief test of our nearness to and acceptance with the Lord. Let each apply the test to himself: Whether I am something or nothing in God’s estimation is to be measured by my love for Him, for His brethren, for His cause, for the world in general, and even for my enemies, rather than by my knowledge, or fame, or oratory. What a wonderful test this is!

Nothing in the Apostle’s treatise on love signifies that one should neglect the caring for and providing in every way for those dependent upon him by family ties, in order that he may do good to others. In every sense, “Love begins at home.” The proper thought, as we gather it, is that men and women, possessed of the spirit of perfect love, would not think exclusively of their own interests in any of the affairs of life. Put into exercise, this element of love would have a great influence upon all the affairs of life, inside as well as outside the home and family.

LOVE IS KIND

Having given us such a conception of the importance of love, the Apostle proceeded to describe what it is and what it is not – how it operates or conducts itself and how it does not. Let us each examine ourselves and inquire within.

Have I the love described thus by the Apostle: “Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.” (1 Cor. 13:4, ASV) Have I such love, especially for the household of faith, as leads me to suffer considerably and for a long time, and yet to be kind? Am I patient with the weaknesses and imperfections of those who give any evidence of good intentions? Am I patient even with those who err, realizing that the great Adversary blinds the minds of the masses, remembering that this manifestation of love was very prominent in our Lord Jesus, who was patient with His opponents?

Do I seek to guard my manner and tone of voice, knowing that they greatly impact every affair of life? Does the mark of love pervade my actions, words, and thoughts? Do I think of and am I considerate of others? Do I feel and manifest kindness toward them in word, in look, in act? A Christian, above all others, should be kind, courteous, gentle in the home, in his place of business, among the brethren – everywhere. To the degree perfect love is attained, the constant effort of the heart will be to have every word and act, like the thought which prompts them, full of patience and kindness. With the child of God these qualities are not to be mere outward adornments. They cannot be; on the contrary, they are fruits of the Spirit – the results of having come into fellowship with God, having learned of Him, receiving His Spirit of holiness, of love.

Have I the love that “envieth not,” the love that can see others prosper and rejoice in their prosperity, even if my own affairs are not so prosperous? This is true generosity, the very reverse of jealousy and envy, which spring from a debased nature. The root of envy is selfishness – it will not grow upon the root of love. Love rejoices with those who rejoice. It rejoices in the prosperity of every good word and work.

Do I have the love that is humble, that “vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up”? Do I have the love that tends to modesty and is not boastful? Do I have the love that prompts to good deeds, whether or not seen of men, but that would be done the same if no one saw or knew but God only? Do I have the love that humbly acknowledges that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father and seeks to repay Him in love and service? The Spirit of the Lord is the spirit of a sound mind. It seeks to esteem others generously, while also soberly estimating self, not thinking too highly of one’s character and attainments.

LOVE THINKS NO EVIL

Have I the love that: “Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil?” (1 Cor. 13:5) Pride is the root out of which grows much of the unseemly conduct or impoliteness so common to those who consider themselves to be somebody, either intellectually or financially. Politeness and courtesy have been defined as love in little things. Politeness may either be on the surface or from love in the heart. As Christians, we are to have the heart-love which will prompt us to acts of kindness and courtesy, not only among the household of faith, but in our homes and in our dealings with the world.

Do I have I the love which is unselfish, which seeks not its own interests exclusively, which might even be willing to let some of its own rights be sacrificed in the interests of others? Or do I have, on the contrary, the selfishness which not only demands my own rights on every occasion, but which demands those rights regardless of the conveniences, comfort and rights of others? To have such love means being on guard against taking any unjust advantage of others, preferring rather to suffer a wrong than to do a wrong – preferring to suffer an injustice than to do an injustice.

Do I have the love which is good tempered and not “easily provoked” to anger? Do I have the love that enables me to see both sides of a question, that gives me the spirit of a sound mind? Do I have the love which enables me to see that exasperation and violent anger are not only unbecoming but injurious to those toward whom they are directed, and also injurious in their effect upon my own heart and body?

There may be times when love needs to be firm, almost inflexible, where principles are involved and where valuable lessons are to be taught. This might come under the heading of anger when that word is used in the proper sense of righteous indignation exercised for a loving purpose – for doing good. But it should only be exercised in this manner for a time, and we should see to it that we do not sin either with our lips, or in our hearts. At no time may we entertain any but loving and generous sentiments toward those who are our enemies, or toward those of our friends whom we would assist, instruct, or correct.

To be “easily provoked” means having a bad temper, being touchy, and quick to take offense. This is wholly contrary to the spirit of love; and whoever is on the Lord’s side and seeking to be pleasing to Him should closely guard himself against this prevalent condition of our day. To whatever extent this disposition is willingly harbored or not fought against, it becomes evidence of a deficiency in our development in Christian character and of a deficiency in our likeness to our Lord Jesus. Of all the manifestations of a wrong spirit, very few are rationalized and excused as much this spirit of irritability and touchiness. Every heart filled with the Lord’s Spirit must oppose this disposition to evil in his flesh, and must wage a good warfare against it, despite however much natural character flaws, heredity, and bad influences may incline us toward this behavior.

It will not do to say, “It is my way,” for all the “ways” of the fallen nature are bad; and it is the business of the Christian to overcome the old nature in this as well as other works of the flesh and the Devil. There are few ways we can better show our friends and households the power of the grace of love than by doing so. This grace, as it grows, should make every child of God sweet-tempered. In no way can we better show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light than by the exhibition of the spirit of love in the daily affairs of life.

Have I the spirit of love which “thinketh no evil,” which is not suspicious of evil or looking for faults in others, not attributing evil motives to them? Have I the love which seeks always to interpret the conduct of others charitably, to make all possible allowance for errors in judgment rather than to impugn the motives of the heart? Perfect love is good intentioned itself, preferring to view the words and conduct of others as being good intentioned. It does not treasure up animosities and suspicions, nor manufacture a chain of circum­stantial proofs of evil intentions out of trivial affairs. “Faults are thick where love is thin” is a very wise proverb.

While love passes over offenses and holds no grudges, this does not mean that love would treat evil-doers in precisely the same manner that it would treat those who do good. It might be proper or even necessary to take some notice of the offenses and distance ourselves from those persons, but no hatred, malice or strife should be manifested. The manifestation of kindness and gentleness leaves the door of opportunity open for a full reconciliation and shows a willingness to forgive and forget the wrong.

LOVE REJOICES IN TRUTH

Have I the love that: “Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth?” (1 Cor. 13:6) Are the principles of right and wrong firmly fixed in my mind, and am I thoroughly in accord with right and thoroughly out of harmony with wrong? Am I grieved with evils wherever encountered and sympathize with all who fall into evil or who are beset with temptations? Am I so opposed to wrong that I would not encourage it even if it brought advantage to me? Am I so in accord with right, with Truth, that I could not avoid rejoicing in the Truth and in its prosperity, even if it overturned some of my preconceived opinions, or jeopardized some of my earthly interests?

Everyone who seeks to develop the spirit of perfect love in his heart should carefully guard the sincerity of his motives as well as the uprightness of his conduct. The least suggestion of rejoicing at the fall of any person or thing even slightly representing righteousness or goodness is to be deplored and overcome. Perfect love “rejoiceth not in iniquity” under any circumstance or condition and would have no satisfaction in the fall of another but only sorrow, even if the fall would mean his own advancement.

The love of God, which the Apostle here described as the spirit of the Lord’s people, is far above all selfishness and is based upon fixed principles which should, day by day, be more distinctly discerned and always firmly adhered to at any cost. Love can take no part in error, however profitable, and cannot desire the reward of evil. It takes pleasure in the Truth – truth upon every subject, and especially in the Truth of divine revelation, however unpopular it may be and however much persecution and loss of the friendship of this world its advocacy may involve. The spirit of love has such an affinity for the Truth that it rejoices to share loss, persecution, distress or whatever may come against the Truth or its servants. In the Lord’s view it is all the same whether we are ashamed of Him or ashamed of His Word of Truth. He declared that He will be ashamed of those who are ashamed of Him when He comes to be glorified with His saints. (Matt. 10:33)

LOVE PERSEVERES

Have I the love that: “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things?” (1 Cor. 13:7) Do I have the love that is impregnable against the assaults of evil, that resists evil, impurity, sin and everything that is contrary to love? Do I have love that is both able and willing to endure reproaches, reproofs, insults, losses, misrepresentations and even death for the cause of God? “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” (1 John 5:4) The very life and center of that faith is the Holy Spirit of Love for the Lord and for those that are His and, sympathetically, for the world. Perfect love can bear up under all circumstances and, by God’s grace, bring us off conquerors and “more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” (Rom. 8:37)

Do I have the love that is unwilling to impute evil to another unless forced to do so by indisputable evidence? Do I have love that would rather believe good than evil about everyone? Do I have love that would take no pleasure in hearing evil, but would be disposed to resent it? Perfect love is disposed to be trustful, acting on the principle that it is better, if necessary, to be deceived a hundred times than to go through life soured by a suspicious mind – far better than to accuse or suspect even one person unjustly. This is the merciful disposition described by the Master when He said, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matt. 5:7) The unmerciful, unbelieving mind is father to unmerciful conduct toward others.

Have I the love that perseveres under unfavorable conditions, and continues to hope for and to labor for those who need my assistance? Have I the love that endures and continues to hope for the best and strive for the best? Perfect love is not easily discouraged. This is the secret of love’s perseverance: having learned of God, and having become a partaker of His holiness, it trusts in Him and hopes undismayed for the fulfilment of His gracious Covenant, however dark the immediate surroundings.

This hopeful element of love is one of the striking features in the perseverance of the saints, enabling them to endure hardness as good soldiers. Its hopeful quality hinders it from being easily offended, or easily stopped in the work of the Lord. Where others would be discouraged or prone to flee, the spirit of love gives endurance, that we may war a good warfare, and please the Captain of our salvation. Love’s hopefulness knows no despair, for its anchorage enters into that which is beyond the veil, and is firmly fastened to the Rock of Ages.

Beloved, let us with all our getting, get love – the love whose roots are in the new heart, begotten in us by our Heavenly Father’s love, and exemplified in the words and deeds of our dear Redeemer. All else sought and gained will be but loss and dross unless, with all, we secure love! “But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13:13, ASV)

(Based on Reprint 4917.)

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“GROW IN GRACE”

“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” (2 Pet. 3:17-18)

There is a touching tenderness in the epistles of the aged Apostle Peter to the household of faith. While he realized that the time of his departure was drawing nigh (2 Pet. 1:14; John 21:18-19), his solicitude for the growth and development of the Church was increasing. Accordingly, he wrote two general epistles, not so much to advance new truth, as to call to remembrance truths already learned and fully received (2 Pet. 1:12-15), and to counsel all to be faithful and to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In the verses preceding our opening text, he had been calling to mind some of these truths, and he recognized the fact that those addressed were already established in them. He knew, however, that false teachers would arise to pervert the Truth, and he counseled special watchfulness against being led away from their present steadfastness by the error of the wicked. That this counsel of the Apostle has a special application to the Church in the last days is made clear: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts.” (2 Pet. 3:3)

Note how the Apostle would have us guard against being led away by the error of the wicked. He did not counsel us to carefully investigate all the claims put forth by every new false prophet that arises, thus giving heed to every seducing spirit. (1 Tim. 4:1) That course would be quite contrary to the teaching of St. Paul, who gave no uncertain counsel on this subject: “But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker.” (2 Tim. 2:16-17; see also Rom. 16:17-19)

Peter’s words echoed Paul’s wise and earnest counsel. To heed seducing doctrines that are contrary to the doctrine we have already received from the Lord and the Apostles indicates a lack of faith in those doctrines. Whoever does so is not established in the faith. Some think that it is neither necessary nor advisable to be established in the faith, suggesting that to be established is to be a bigot. That is true if one is so biased as to accept and tenaciously hold that which he has never proved either by sound logic or Bible authority. But he is not an unreasoning bigot who, in simple faith and on the authority of God, accepts the Word of God. Only those who do so are established in the Truth. The difference between the strong and steadfast Christian and a bigot is that the one is established in the Truth, while the other is established in error.

The former knows the Truth, and the Truth has made him free from all doubts and misgivings, and from all desire to delve into the muddy pool of human speculations. To all such Paul said, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” (Col. 2:6-8)

Peter’s counsel is in fullest harmony with these sentiments of “our beloved brother Paul.” His advice is to not waste valuable time investigating “the error of the wicked,” but to instead endeavor to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who is the way, the Truth, and the life. The more thorough our knowledge of the Lord and the more intimate our acquaintance with Him, the more secure we are in our own steadfastness.

To grow in grace is to grow in favor with the Lord through an intimate personal acquaintance and fellowship of spirit with Him. It is the knowledge and recognition of our redemption through his precious blood and a personal faith in the promises of the Father made to us through him. It is an intimate communion with Him in our daily life of prayer, observation of his will, and obedience to it. If we maintain this constant attitude of mind and heart, a constant ripening of the fruits of the spirit will result, rendering us more and more pleasing and acceptable to our Lord, in fulfilment of His blessed promise: “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” (John 14 :23)

To grow thus in grace and not grow in knowledge is impossible. The very object of such communion is to build us up in a more perfect knowledge and acquaintance with the Lord – to bring us into closer fellowship with the divine plan, and to give us the privilege of being “workers together with him” in executing that plan. If we love and obey the Lord and desire to grow in His favor, His written Word is our daily meditation and study.

We do not grow in knowledge by finding out that what we learned last year was false, but by adding to what we learned last year. We thus put on more and more of the armor of God until we realize its glorious completeness in the full discernment of the divine plan of the ages. We are then ready to do valiant service for the cause of Truth in withstanding the encroachment of error. (Eph. 6:10-13) We are established, strengthened, and settled in the faith. (1 Pet. 5:10) Even those thus established in the faith will have abundant opportunity to grow in knowledge as they discover new lines of harmony and beauty in the divine plan of the ages.

Our beloved brother Peter, zealous for our growth in knowledge, endeavored to inspire us thereto, by calling our attention to the wonderful events and the close proximity of the day of the Lord: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night [unobserved by the world]; in the which the heavens [present ecclesiastical powers] shall pass away with a great noise [tumult and confusion], and the elements [of society] shall melt with fervent heat, the earth [society] also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” (2 Pet. 3:10)

This will not be a literal fire but, as described by the Prophets, the fire of divine jealousy. (Zeph. 1:18; Zeph. 3:8) The noise and tumult, which will eventually result in world-wide anarchy, are already distinctly heard in every nation. The day of the Lord has indeed begun, and the heat of human passion is growing more and more intense daily, and the great Time of Trouble is very near.

The Apostle then asked: “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?” (2 Pet. 3:11-12) Let us indeed take this solemn question to heart. These words were addressed to God’s people more than nineteen centuries ago and served a purpose for good all throughout this Gospel Age, but they are especially pertinent to those who are living in this very Day of God.

Unlike the rest of the world, we know of the divine plan: “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (2 Pet. 3:13) We look for the Kingdom of God (new heavens) to be established in power and great glory. We look for a new social order (a new earth) under the rulership of Christ and His glorified bride. What blessed assurance! How favored we are above the people of the world who do not have this knowledge!

“Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” (2 Pet. 3:14) In the book of Jude, we are reminded that the Lord, in whose grace and knowledge Peter desired us to grow, can keep us from stumbling: “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 forever. Amen.” (Jude 24)

(Based on Reprint 3215.)

Write to us at: epiphanybiblestudents@gmail.com

[1] The word translated “charity” in the KJV is from the Greek word agape, meaning true, unselfish love.

NO. 801: “AWAKE TO RIGHTEOUSNESS”

No. 801

“Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” (1 Cor. 15:34)

As with all of the Apostolic writings, this text is not addressed to the world of sinners, but to Christians. Those in the School of Christ recognize that the Lord is teaching and preparing them for a great work in the future. According to the Bible, the work of the Church during the incoming age is to be as kings, priests, and judges, as God’s representatives in the Messianic Kingdom. As kings, they will be sharers with our Lord Jesus in the ruling of the world. As priests, they will share in the work of healing, instructing, and sympathizing with the world. As judges, they will administer justice, giving stripes or rewards to mankind during the thousand years of Messiah’s Reign. Therefore, it is manifestly proper that whoever hopes to be one of these kings, priests, and judges should now attain the qualifications of heart and mind which will make him competent for the work, for we may be very sure that God will not appoint any who are not properly qualified.[1]

It is for this reason that God has been calling His Church out from the world during the Gospel Age, and has been giving them the glorious instructions of our Lord Jesus and the Apostles, and of the Law and the Prophets. All these things have been for their upbuilding in the qualities of heart and mind which will fit them for the great service to which God has called them.

God does not test His children according to their imperfect bodies, for He knows that they cannot do the things they would like to do: “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 that ye would.” (Gal. 5:17) He instead deals with their spirits, their minds. He gives them a new mind through the transforming influence of His Word,  and it is this new mind which He receives into His family. They accept the will of God, instead of their own wills, and divine arrangements instead of their own plans and purposes. God thus deals with them as His children, according to this new relationship into which they have come by faith and obedience, and through Christ our Lord they are reckoned perfect in God’s sight.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WILL

How can we be perfect in will when our bodies are imperfect? We answer as did the Apostle: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” (Rom. 7:18) Paul did not always succeed in carrying out his will for righteousness, and so it is with everyone who seeks to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. We all know how to will right, but how to do right is the problem.

Gradually we learn that God will not judge us according to the imperfections of our flesh, for so long as we remain faithful, these blemishes are covered with the robe of Christ’s imputed righteousness. Therefore, we do our best to show our Heavenly Father that we are trying hard to do right in every act, word, and thought. And since He expects every member of His family to have a perfect will, it becomes a personal question for us to learn what is the will of God for us: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove [know] what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Rom. 12:1-2)

Proving what is God’s will means coming to a knowledge of His will and putting it into practice. If we are faithful, we progress in this more and more as the days go by. We first have a little knowledge and put this into practice. As we grow in grace and in knowledge, we become better acquainted with the will of God, and we must put this increased knowledge into practice also. We do not obtain this knowledge of God’s will in any supernatural way. Rather, we gain it through the study of the Bible. (2 Tim. 2:15)

Whoever has come into the family of God has given up his own will and has accepted God’s will instead. Whoever has not given up his own will to the Lord is not His child. As the Apostle declared, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” (Rom. 8:9) The spirit of Christ is the spirit of full surrender to the Father’s will, and as we come to this same condition, we give up our own wills and take instead the divine will. We do this because it is the proper course for all who desire to follow in our Redeemer’s steps, and because our own wills have proved to be unsatisfactory to ourselves.

Our minds and our bodies are so imperfect that we have frequently gotten into trouble by doing our own will. Therefore, we are glad to know and to do the will of God, especially since we see that it is so gracious a will. It is the will of God that His children experience trials and difficulties during the present time, in order that these experiences may develop in us a God-like character that will render us fit to be used by God in the great work of blessing all the families of the earth.

JUSTICE FIRST, THEN LOVE

Sometimes Christian people see the doctrine of love in the Bible, and forget that there is a lesson which precedes love. This primary lesson is the lesson of justice – righteousness. Our opening text really means, “Awake to justice!” We must all learn to distinguish right from wrong and to practice what is just, what is right. Justice is righteousness.

The Law of God was given to the Israelites at Mount Sinai to show what justice means. They were not asked to do anything more than justice. The Law said, “Thou shalt not kill.” To take another’s life is wrong, except when God’s own Law demands it. “Thou shalt not steal.” To do so is wrong, unjust. “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” To do so would be an injustice. (Exod. 20:2-17)

In the words of our Lord Jesus, the Law of God given to the children of Israel amounted to this: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” (Luke 10:27) To do justice to your neighbor as you wish that neighbor to do justice to you is the essence of the Law of God given to the Jews for their treatment of others. (Matt. 7:12)

Did God give this same Law to the Church? Yes, so far as the spirit of the Law is concerned. God’s Law is over all of His creatures, but during the Law dispensation there was a special Law Covenant which God made with Natural Israel, and no others have ever been under that Law Covenant. The Jew who could keep that Law perfectly could live forever. Having everlasting life at his command, he might have the opportunity of becoming a part of that great antitypical Spiritual Israel which was to bless all the families of the earth. This our Lord Jesus did. Moreover, His statement of the divine Law to Spiritual Israel showed how far-reaching and comprehensive are its requirements.

No rational person will question the propriety of dealing justly with everyone in the world. This subject has many ramifications in all the affairs of our daily life. The principle of justice enters into every transaction, even the most trivial. It applies not only to our dealings with the world at large, but with every member of our own family. If all would get this thought of the Golden Rule firmly fixed in the mind, if each one could awake to righteousness – to justice – the whole world would be revolutionized. Men would not be shooting one another; they would be doing something good toward one another, just as they would wish others to do toward them. But this standard of righteousness, of justice, is entirely ignored by governments and by individuals. The general excuse for violating the Golden Rule is that others would not do their part; they would not reciprocate our practice of the Golden Rule and we would be taken advantage of.

This practice ignores the fear of God and replaces it with the fear of man. God’s Word says that we are carnal if we are afraid of others and of what they may do. We are living according to the flesh, and are like the unbelieving world. Do those of us who have come into relationship with God through the Lord Jesus say that we fear to trust this principle of justice in our lives, that we do not dare to carry it out in every word, thought and act? Are we afraid to trust God and to obey Him?

God did not say that we were to observe the Golden Rule only when others observed it toward us, and to ignore it when others failed to observe it toward us. On the contrary, we are to practice it on every occasion, regardless of what others do. Then we will know that all things will work together for good toward us, because we will be in line with God and His arrangements. He has power to overrule in all of life’s affairs. The very least that we must do is to give justice to one another. Doing so will mean a great blessing to our own characters.

Whoever is violating the principle of justice, The Golden Rule, in his home or among the brethren, or in business or social relations should, if he is a Christian, examine the matter earnestly and prayerfully and, “Awake to righteousness [justice], and sin not.” To do violence to justice is sin; and it is a sin that prevails everywhere. Many do not have a proper appreciation of this fact. They do not see that justice is the very foundation of all character, of all right living. It is the foundation of the Throne of God. (Psa. 89:14) No one can practice love to his fellow creatures or even toward God while he is at the same time violating the principle of justice toward them. Only after we have rendered justice are we at liberty to practice love toward another. Justice first, love afterwards, should be the rule governing all of our dealings with others.

Unless we are just in our very hearts, unless we appreciate this principle of justice and rejoice to practice it, we will not be fit for the Kingdom. We should never be unjust, even to an animal. Every creature has its rights, and we should give each creature the rights which belong to it and leave the results with God. In so doing, we will be preparing our minds and our hearts for the Kingdom work the Lord has in store for His faithful children.

Let us remember that if we are true, loyal children of God, all our blemishes are covered by the robe of Christ’s righteousness. If we are doing with our might what our hands find to do in accordance with justice, in accordance with the Golden Rule, we are showing the Father that we appreciate this principle of justice as the foundation of His Government. Upon this sure foundation we can build a superstructure of love and be made ready for the Kingdom.

(Based on Pastor Russell’s Sermons, pages 349-355.)

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THE SECRET OF TRUE PEACE

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” (John 14:1)

The Apostle wrote, “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” Likewise, the Prophet wrote, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.” (Rom. 8:22; Job 14:1) The world is truly full of troubled hearts; for it is full of imperfection that is directly or indirectly the result of sin and its death penalty, impairing our mental, moral, and physical powers and bringing us instead depravity, disappointment, sorrow, and pain.

Our opening text was part of our Lord’s message to His disciples just before His crucifixion. He Himself was bowed with grief and exceedingly sorrowful in anticipation of the shame of the death He was about to suffer. Hiding His own sorrow, He comforted His disciples, who were perplexed and distressed. He thus set an example for all His followers to walk in His footsteps, serving in the world as healing physicians, as counselors of the divine Law, and as ministers of divine love. Indeed, however much we appreciate the miracles performed by our Lord – the healing of the sick, the awakening of the dead, the opening of the blind eyes and deaf ears – it is His teachings and doctrines that appeal to us the most. Truly was it said of Him in His day, “Never man spake like this man.” (John 7:46) And again, “And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth.” (Luke 4:22) His words were truly “Beautiful words, wonderful words of life.”

It must be the same with the footstep-followers of Jesus. Our Lord might have spent all of His time and energy healing the sick and awakening the dead, but that was not the mission of His First Advent. In performing these miracles, He merely provided evidence of God’s power residing in Him, and foreshadowed the blessings yet to come to the world at His Second Advent – the “times of refreshing” that will come, the “times of restitution of all things.” (Acts 3:19-21)

Although multitudes waited for healing at the pool of Bethesda, our Lord healed only one person, but it was not because He lacked sympathy for the other afflicted ones. It was because the due time had not yet come for the healing of the world’s woes and troubles. The healing of one was sufficient for His purpose. It drew the attention of some to the Lord’s readiness to ultimately heal all the broken­hearted, to give the oil of joy for the spirit of heaviness, and to awaken those dead in trespasses and sins to a newness of life through faith. (Isa. 61:1-3)

All footstep-followers of Jesus are similarly commissioned as His representatives to tell the message of good tidings to all who have ears to hear, the message that, just as sin and death came by one man’s disobedience, so a redemption has been accomplished by the obedience of another. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (1 Tim. 2:5-6)

His followers are authorized to do the work of good physicians binding up the broken-hearted. They are authorized as lawyers versed in the Law of God to point out to those willing to hear that sin, the violation of the divine Law, has brought havoc upon our race, causing countless to mourn. They are authorized further to point out that Jesus our Lord gave Himself a full Ransom-price, meeting the demands of the Law, thus making it possible for all who turn from sin to come back into harmony with God and His perfect Law of love through Christ.

They are further authorized as ministers of the Gospel to point out that through the glorified Christ, Head and Body, Bridegroom and Bride, a blessed opportunity for reconciliation to God under the terms of the New Covenant will eventually be extended to “all the families of the earth” – including those who have gone down into the great prison-house of death. The death of Christ has guaranteed that all will have a full, proper knowledge of the Lord and His plan so that they might have a fair trial for life or death. (1 Tim. 2:4; Heb. 8:11)

“BIND UP THE BROKENHEARTED”

Even now the Lord’s consecrated followers have gracious opportunities for serving the brethren and any of the world that have hearing ears. They are commissioned to bind up the brokenhearted, to comfort all that mourn in Zion, and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. If any suggest that the comforting of mourners and the binding of broken hearts implies that God’s ministers, servants of the Truth, are first of all to break the hearts, to cause the mourning, we answer, No! It is not thus written, and we are not to add to the Word of God.

Other agencies are at work all about us, doing the heart­breaking and the wounding. We are to receive so much of the Lord’s spirit that, so far as possible, we shall break no hearts and wound no one. On the contrary, we are to do all in our power to effect healing to the extent of our ability. It is sin that is breaking the hearts of the people with disappointment – disappointment in themselves, in their own ambitions, in their own efforts, in their friends, in business, in pleasure – all of these are doing the wounding and the breaking. We can be content to do the work the Master gave us to do, and leave it to the Adversary to do the heart­breaking, along with those who are in the outer darkness of sin, ignorant of the Lord and His Spirit. (Isa. 42:16)

It is our understanding that the Scriptures teach that a great Time of Trouble is near at hand – the great final trouble of this world’s history – when during an unparalleled period of anarchy, all human hopes and ambitions will utterly fail. As the Scriptures declare, “And at that time . . . there shall be a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation – even to that same time.” (Dan. 12:1) Our Lord added to this prophecy, “Nor ever shall be.” (Matt. 24:21) The Scriptures point out that the great trouble will be the result of selfishness reaching its limit, becoming ripe and going to seed. The world has always been selfish, but according to the Scriptures and our own observations, this spirit of greed and selfishness is extending more and more widely, and affecting almost every member of the race. Eventually every man’s hand will be against his neighbor and there will be no peace. (Zech. 8:10) It is comforting to know that this great Time of Trouble will be the last of its kind. 

The world, ignorant of God and of the plan He has prepared for the blessing of all the nations during the Millennium, will feel the Time of Trouble most keenly. But the Scriptures give us to understand that their sorrows, woes and heart­break will eventually be favorable to them. The plowing of the world with the plowshare of trouble and perplexity will dissipate all the false hopes which many of them had long been vainly chasing – drawing their attention to the better, the true hope which the Lord has provided, the center of which is Christ’s Kingdom and the foundation of which is His Ransom-sacrifice at Calvary. (1 Tim. 2:5-6)

THE FUTURE WORK OF BLESSING

Those who are to be associated with the Lord Jesus in the work of uplifting mankind during His Millennial Reign will be the same ones who have gained practice in this age by binding up the broken hearts of the comparatively few who have the ear to hear. How wise is the divine arrangement! Those in the School of Christ are now given a practice-work to do in their own hearts, in their own families, among their friends, and in the household of faith.

Our future possibility of sharing in the Kingdom work is dependent upon learning now the art of binding up the broken hearts we encounter. It is not skill that is most important thing, but love. He who loves much, and who now sees the broken and troubled hearts around him, will be led to heed the Apostle Paul’s counsel: “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” (Gal. 6:10) The Apostle John wrote: “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” (1 John 3:17) If his love and sympathy do not go out toward these troubled ones, if his best energies are spent on money-making or in some other selfish channel, it implies that the love of God either did not dwell in him or is but slightly developed.

Let us remember these words of Scripture, “For the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deut. 13:3) As the Apostle wrote, “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20) The test upon us all then is love: “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16)

“NONE OTHER NAME”

Some who have sympathetic minds are attempting to bind up broken hearts in an improper and injurious manner. It has become the general message of new theological thought that all mankind are currently children of God, but we warn that there is no Scriptural authority for such teaching. This message draws the hearts of men away from the name of Jesus, the divinely given remedy: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) There is none other, therefore, qualified to speak true peace to the troubled soul or to properly bind up the broken heart.

Our Lord forewarned us about these various theories that salvation could come through another channel than that which God has provided: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) He declared Himself to be the only door into the sheepfold: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” (John 10:1) We therefore warn against every theory which attempts to present mercy and restoration to divine favor by any means other than through faith in Christ’s sacrifice. We denounce as unscriptural all teachings that present the thought that there was no original sin, no original sentence, and hence no need of a Redeemer, and no need of restitution.

We also warn against the error of an acceptance of Jesus and a hope in Him that is contrary to what is presented in the Scriptures. Some reject the thought that Jesus died to be man’s Redeemer, but they nevertheless accept Christ as their teacher and example. This is contrary to what the Master taught: “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45) If His life was not a ransom, or corresponding-price, then He spoke falsely, and those who believe that He did falsify could not consider Him a proper teacher.

Furthermore, if He came into the world merely to be our Exemplar and not to be our Redeemer, then His mission was a failure; for no one since His coming has been able to follow the example He set. To view our Lord as merely an example for proper living for the world would be an absurdity, since no one of the fallen race can possibly live up to the perfect standard which our Lord set in sacrificing all of His rightful interests as a man. (Matt. 20:28)

The Scriptures present the opposite view that all of mankind are imperfect through the fall, all are under the death sentence, and that Jesus Christ tasted death for all. They teach that this sacrifice for the sin of Adam, and for the sins of the whole world, was necessary to meet the divine sentence before divine forgiveness and restoration to eternal life and favor would be possible. They teach that, for the majority of mankind, such a restoration will be accomplished during the Millennial Age. They teach that to a very small minority, even “as many as the Lord our God shall call,” our Lord was not only a Redeemer but an Exemplar, and that these who have been called to separate from the world and to walk in the narrow way of self-sacrifice are to copy Christ’s example as far as possible. The Scriptures assure us that the best endeavors of this class, covered by the merit of Christ’s sacrifice, will be acceptable and reckoned to them as though they were perfect sacrifices, and that thus they may have their share with their Redeemer in the glory, honor and immortality of His Kingdom, and be participants with Him in the great work of blessing the world during the Millennium.

“LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED”

The hearts of those who believe are not to be troubled under any circumstances. They are no longer of the world, because separated from the world through their acceptance of the Lord and His acceptance of them. While still sharers in the trials and difficulties of the world in general, they now have the consolations of the Scriptures to offset these troubles and to make of them “light affliction” – not worthy to be compared with the glories promised to be revealed in them. (2 Cor. 4:17; Rom. 8:18) Indeed, it is not an unusual thing for the Lord to permit trials and troubles to come upon His faithful which are much more severe than those which fall on the world. (Heb. 12:6-11; Rev. 3:19)

None of these experiences in life should cause anxious thought, or as the Apostle said, none should move us because the love of God enlarges our hearts. (Acts 20:24; Rom. 5:5) We have not only learned that God has forgiven our sins, that He is our Father and our best friend, and that He is merciful to our imperfections; we have also learned that great blessings await at the resurrection of the just and the establishment of the Kingdom. Additionally, we also have now the peace, the joy, the blessed hope which these gracious promises afford. These the world can neither give nor take away.

Why then should we be troubled? The Master assures us, “Nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19) Surely anxiety on our part would demonstrate a lack of faith, a lack of confidence, or else ignorance of the divine promises, character, and arrangement.

(Based on Pastor Russell’s Sermons, pages 262-271.)

Write to us at: epiphanybiblestudents@gmail.com

[1] We believe that those consecrating after the close of the door to the high calling will not reign with Christ on the heavenly plane, but will be associates of the Ancient Worthies as representatives in the earthly phase of the Kingdom. They are not on trial for life, but for faith and obedience. They should, therefore, seek to attain the same qualifications of heart and mind. See Reprint 5761, under “Those Consecrating Between the Ages.”