The Church, an Environment of Exhortation

The Church, an Environment of Exhortation

By Al Stoner 

The church of the living God is to be an environment of exhortation while it is yet in this world. When brothers and sisters in Christ come together in the weekly gatherings, prophets are to preach, exhorters are to exhort, teachers are to teach, and ministers of various spiritual gifts are all to minister them according to the measure of the gift of Christ, so that all may be edified and all may be profited.  As Paul declared, “Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.  If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.  For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.  And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets” (I Cor. 14:28-30). 

In his epistle to the Romans Paul expressed it this way: “So we, by our union [with and] in Christ, many though we are, form but one body, and individually we are related one to another as its parts.  Since our gifts differ in accordance with the particular charge entrusted to us, if our gift is to preach, let our preaching correspond to our faith; If it is to minister to others, let us devote ourselves to our ministry; the teacher to his teaching, The speaker to his exhortation. Let the man who gives in charity do so with a generous heart; let him who is in authority exercise due diligence; let him who shows kindness do so in a cheerful spirit.  Let your love be sincere. Hate the wrong; cling to the right” (Rom. 12:5-9, TCNT). 

In this environment, all the benefits are flowing to the individual members by joints and bands from the Head, even Jesus, “from Whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Eph. 4:16).  Every member of the body has a vital part to fulfill in the edification of the other members of the body.  Showing mercy and compassion, the giving of  thanks, sharing an insight received from the Word of God, being kindly affectioned one toward another are but some avenues of expression given by Christ to the church for the building up of the other members of the body in the faith.  In Romans 12 Paul makes mention of a wide range of complimentary enablements for the edifying of the church. Every member of the body can find themselves somewhere in one or more of these expressions. As they live and walk by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ they are made aware of particular enablements that Christ is working in and through them. The ability to edify fellow brethren by the means of spiritual gifts given to men is a stewardship given to them by the Savior. Let us all see that we are good stewards of the manifold grace of God!  

The benefits proceeding from our exalted Head are wonderfully substantive in nature (cf. Heb. 11:1), and when received, they are perceived to be desperately necessary unto life and godliness, and unto gaining the prize of life eternal.  These benefits are also greatly utilitarian, making for increase unto edification.  This is an increase, on the part of every member, both in the ability and capacity to edify the church, which is Christ’s body.  These gifts are beneficial by virtue of their making for ever-increasing familiarity with, and knowledge of, both the Father and the Son.  And in all these things God is glorified through Jesus Christ. 

In light of these considerations, it ought to be a matter of wonder, marvel, and even alarm, that the greater part of that which calls itself the church today is a total stranger to this environment of exhortation! It should be evident that something very strange and very grievous has transpired in “the church”. The so-called “clergy-laity” system has essentially usurped and displaced the operation of the Spirit of God among men and women who are making a profession of faith in Christ. Fulfilling a religious obligation has now, in all too many instances, usurped the place of giving oneself to the appointed work of edifying the body of Christ.  There now exists a great chasm between what “is written” about the church in the Word of God, and what actually parades as the church in our generation.  “An enemy hath done this,” is certainly an accurate way that one can summarize the state of affairs that has now come upon the professed church today: yea, the enemy of God and of men’s souls. Under this usurpation God is not receiving glory and men’s souls are being further enslaved, rather than being built up in the most holy faith. --Editor

 

Freedom in Christ

"Christ has presently made us free in these areas: free from sin, free from the bondage of the law, free from the fear of death, and free from the bondage of a defiled conscience." These are but gladsome foretastes of the long-awaited deliverance "from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Rom. 8:21). —Fred O. Blakely


"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Gal. 5:1).

"Итак стойте в свободе, которую даровал нам Христос, и не подвергайтесь опять игу рабства."

自由を得させるために、キリストはわたしたちを解放して下さったのである。だから、堅く立って、二度と奴隷のくびきにつながれてはならない。(Gal. 5:1)

 




   

How Beautiful to be with God

How Beautiful to be with God

How beautiful to be with God, 

When earth is fading like a dream, 

And from the mist-encircled shore 

To launch upon the unknown stream. 

No doubt, no fear, no anxious care, 

But, comforted by staff and rod, 

In the faith-brightened hour of death, 

How beautiful to be with God. 

Beyond the partings and the pains, 

Beyond the sighings and the tears, 

Oh, beautiful to be with God 

Through all the endless, blessed years, 

To see His face, to hear His voice, 

To know Him better day by day, 

And love Him as the flowers love light, 

And serve Him as immortals may.

                  --Author Unknown 

 

 

"Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; Thou shalt make me full of joy with Thy countenance" (Acts 2:28). "Thou wilt show me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore"(Ps. 16:11). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Pardon’s Relation to Knowledge

It Opens the Way to Acquaintance with God

Pardon’s Relation to Knowledge  

By Fred O. Blakely

“This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people: and they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness [for I will forgive their iniquity (Jer. 31:34)] and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb. 8:10-12).

The text sets forth vital contrasts between the old and new covenants, which serve to exhibit the vast superiority of the latter. Prominent among these contrasts is the spiritual knowledge of God made possible under the new dispensation, as opposed to the comparative ignorance of Him that prevailed under the old one. The forgiveness of sins, to which all of the surpassing benefits of the better covenant are ultimately to be attributed, is fundamental to this superiority.
 

Let us consider the text with a view to perceiving something of its engaging representations in this connection. In that discernment, we shall more fully appreciate our favored status as those upon whom the grace foreseen and predicted by the Prophets of old time has now come (Heb. 11:39-40; I Pet. 1:10-12), and be better equipped to live and walk becomingly in it.
 

The Contrast with the Old Covenant

Although there was a revelation of God under the old covenant, because of the provisional, or tentative, way in which sin was dealt with (Heb. 10:1-4; cf. chs. 8:7-8; 9:8-10), and the resultant unregenerated nature of the people (Rom. 8:3), the covenant was weak and unprofitable to invest the “comers thereunto” with the spiritual knowledge of God (Heb. 7:18-19; cf. chs. 8:7: 9:8-9). Hence, the first covenant served only for “the time then present” as a beginning of approach to God by alienated man (Heb. 9:9), until “the time of reformation,” when full propitiation for sin would be accomplished by Christ (v. 10), and the “better covenant” and “better hope, by which we draw nigh unto God,” was brought in (chs. 7:19; 8:6-7).

 

The Provisions of the Old. The faultiness of the old covenant, as compared to the new one, is evident in its provisions. As we have said, the sin-offerings were inefficacious to cleanse the conscience and thus perfect its subjects (Heb. 9:9; 10:1-4). The covenant was entered by the fleshly birth, thus assuring ignorance of, and alienation from, God, who is Spirit, and must be known and worshipped in spirit (Gen. 17:7-14; cf. Jn. 4:24). We later read, “They that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8), and all Israel was thus situated, as we fear is likewise the case with much of the nominal church today. (Incidentally, all females of Abraham, through Jacob, were considered to be in the covenant [see Num. 36], though the males were formally inducted into it by the rite of circumcision—without which they were not reckoned as children of the covenant [Gen. 17:14]).
 

“If we except the few Gentile proselytes, who on condition of their being circumcised, were admitted to some of the rights and privileges of the Theocracy, all subjects of the old covenant had to be taught to know the Lord. But not so under the new covenant. No one, ignorant of Jehovah, can possibly become a member of it: ‘for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him’ (Heb. 11:6).”—Robert Milligan
 

The General Ignorance. In accordance with their flesh-and-blood nature, the law given to Israel was written “in tables of stone” (II Cor. 3:3). Thus, it was external to their inward man, and contrary to his very nature (Col. 2:14). What is more, the average Israelite had very little even of the knowledge of God afforded in his time. That was because, until establishment of the synagogues, there was not much public teaching of the people, though they themselves were commanded to study the Scriptures which they had (Deut. 6:4-9).
 

At best, therefore, the average Israelite perceived God only from the natural view-point (as do many churchmen nowadays), and so could not know Him in intimate spiritual discernment.  Men like David, who rose above that plane, were distinctly exceptions rather than the rule in the nation. This general nature of the case under the first covenant must be understood in order to perceive the full force of Jeremiah’s and Paul’s contrast of it in our text with the new one. In the former era, it was necessary for every man to teach his neighbor and brother, saying. “Know the Lord,” simply because that knowledge was not an integral part of covenant membership, as it is with the present dispensation.
 

Trhe Vivid Contrast. “Under the Jewish dispensation, the average Jew had only an exceedingly dim apprehension of religious truth, whether about God or the way to Him, or about holiness and immortality. But, under the new covenant, spiritual truth shall become more widely diffused and more clearly perceived. For now the Holy Spirit is the great Teacher of the church; and He does not impart esoteric instruction to some special caste, but teaches every believer ‘from the least to the greatest.’
 

“The full forgiveness of sins (Heb. 12). This ‘promise,’ although introduced last, precedes the others in actual bestowment. Sin must be pardoned and cleansed away before the law can be written on the heart, or the mind flooded with spiritual light. None of the Levitical sacrifices could expiate moral guilt; but on the basis of Christ’s atonement God now imparts that forgiveness which is the precedent condition of moral renewal and a holy life (Ps. 130:4).”—C. Jerdan
 

“It was not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. The blood of the new covenant, ‘shed for many for the remission of sins’ (Matt. 26:28), cleanses from all stains, and produces divine peace, looking at forgiveness in the light of God’s Word. It is an invaluable blessing. It releases us from evil thoughts, and excuses which appeared in the words of Adam and Eve, and makes the spirit to be ‘without guile.’” It disarms the power of temptation. It introduces those who are forgiven into the safe and joyful state of justification, with all the blessings which are inseparably connected therewith. It engages the Presence and gracious action of the Spirit of God, who enriches the soul with fruits of righteousness, and creates, by His Presence and power, an earnest of the life to come.” —D. Young 

 

The Way of the New. Since the grace aforetime purposed has now come by Christ the Savior, things are altogether different. Under the reign of that grace, covenant subjects have, not a tentative passing over of sin, but full and complete forgiveness and justification by “the blood of Jesus,” which is wholly efficacious for that purpose (Rom. 3:21-26: 5:9; Heb. 10:5-22). Because of the removal of sin, the way is wide open for both the Father and the Son, by the agency of the Spirit, to indwell covenant subjects, and for the subjects to dwell in Them.

 

This makes possible the spiritual knowledge of and fellowship with God which was not possible under the law given from Sinai. Such knowledge is the preeminent blessing God has for His people, being equated with spiritual life itself (Jn. 17:30). “‘The knowledge of God and of Christ is the sum of all science; this is the only knowledge that can incorporate and mingle with our being; and all other knowledge is real only so far as it is symbolic of this” (Harris).

 

Other Marked Contrasts. A marked contrast with the Sinaitic covenant is evident in the fact that participants in the new covenant become such by rebirth—of water and the Spirit’“ (Jn. 3:3, 5, ASV), not by the natural birth. The approach to Mount Zion is by personal faith and obedience (Heb. 12:22-24), not by the fleshly birth. It is essential that this be understood and acknowledged, if one is to comprehend Paul’s contrast in the text. New-covenant subjects begin life as such by knowing God (Jn. 6:44-45), inasmuch as hearing of Him, believing in Him, obeying Him, and receiving His Spirit are also required and associated with that beginning. Although they are required to increase in that knowledge (I Pet. 2:2-3; cf. Col. 1:9-10; II Pet. 3:18), in the beginning sense they knew Him at birth. We should certainly teach and exhort the brethren of things pertaining to the kingdom, but it is not in order to admonish them to “know the Lord.” We are to assume that they know Him; else, they should not be regarded as brethren.

 

As opposed to the divine law being written “in tables of stone” under the old covenant, it is inscribed “in fleshy tables of the heart” under the new one (II Cor. 3:3). This is that of which the text speaks as the putting of God’s laws in the mind and the writing of them in the heart. In a word, it denotes the reconciliation of covenant subjects to God, or the inclination of their hearts to His law, or Nature. Whereas the ordinary Israelite was inwardly unreconciled to God, all new-covenant participants are reconciled to Him, and, like the only begotten Son, delight to do His will, though they have “another law” within their members—that of sin—against which they must continually strive (Rom. 7:7-24).

 

The Ground for Divine Knowledge

The particular point of stress in the text of Hebrews 8:10-12 is the ground for the distinguishing knowledge of God which the better covenant features. It is expressed by Jeremiah, speaking for God (whom Paul quotes from the Septuagint) in these words: “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31:34). Incidentally, it should be noted that His one sufficient offering for sin (which provides the basis for God’s forgiveness of sin) is that upon which Christ, in His enthronement at the Father’s right hand, confidently expects the ultimate subjection of all His enemies (Heb. 10:10-14).

 

The Comprehensive Basis. The forgiveness of sin is, therefore, the ground for all the other three promises of the better covenant: writing of the law in the heart, God and subject relationship, and the resultant knowledge of God (Heb. 8:10-11). Though mentioned last, it is the basis of all four promises. At Christ’s death, or the rending of the “veil” of His flesh (Heb. 10:10), “the way into the holiest of all,” or the actual Presence of God in heaven, was “made manifest,” or thrown wide open to all His people (ch. 9:8). That death has opened for us “a new and living way” through “the curtain,” so that we may now boldly “enter into the holy place” by “the blood of Jesus,” and learn of God and fellowship with Him (ch. 10:19-22, RSV).

 

“The distinguishing characteristics of the new covenant are: (1) God’s laws, not imposed as an external code, but put into the mind and written on the heart; (2) the general knowledge of the Lord by small as well as great, without the former need of continued admonition; and (3) as the originating and inspiring cause of all, the forgiveness, on the Lord’s part, of sins.

 

“It is important to perceive that this last characteristic of the new covenant, though coming last in order, is given as the reason for the other two; for this is a first principle of the gospel.  The sense of forgiveness through Christ, of acceptance in the Beloved, is ever set forth as the inspiring principle of the obedience of Christians [cf. II Pet. 1:9]. ‘We love Him, because He first loved us’ (I Jn. 4:19).

 

“And hence flow the two results denoted in the prophecy: (1) ‘I will put My laws,’ etc.; i.e., there will ensue, through the inspiring Spirit, from the sense of forgiveness in Christ, a hearty service of love and loyalty; no more mechanical observance of an external code. Then, (2) ‘And they shall not teach,” etc.; i.e., those who, thus led by the Spirit, give themselves to such hearty service, will acquire, further, an immediate, and as it were instinctive, ‘knowledge of the Lord,’ not confined to ‘the wise’ or ‘the scribe,’ but the personal privilege of even the ‘little ones’ of Christ (cf. Matt. 11:25; Jn. 6:45; I Thess. 4:9; I Jn. 2:20).”—J. Barmby

 

The new covenant is, thus, one by which we may “draw nigh” to God, since under it sin has been put away and the defiled conscience has been cleansed (which had kept us from the divine Presence) (Heb. 7:19; cf. ch. 9:9; 10:1-4).

 

Interrelation of Knowledge, Forgiveness. In Isaiah’s prophecy of our Lord’s atonement for sin and its consequences for the individual occurs a representation of the interrelation between forgiveness and the knowledge of God. “By the knowledge of Himself shall My righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities,” it is declared (Isa. 53:11, ASV). The justification, of course, rests upon the Lord’s bearing of our iniquities and putting them away (Heb. 9:26: I Pet. 2:24).

 

But the knowledge of such justification comes from acquaintance with Christ, and perception of the significance for us of what He has done. Hence, Zacharias’ declaration, as he spoke of the ministry of John the Baptist in introducing the Messiah. He was to “give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins” (Lu. 1:77). It is a manifestation of the spiritual obtuseness of the day that very many persons who appear to have obeyed the gospel and to be trusting in Jesus as Savior have not yet come to a lively knowledge of their salvation in Him.

 

The Potential for Continued Increase

The potential for continued increase in the knowledge of God afforded by the forgiveness of sin needs to be perceived and fully exploited. “All shall know Me, from the least to the greatest, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” The sense of sin and condemnation is what keeps people from God. When one becomes spiritually aware that all this has been removed by Christ, and that now nothing at all stands between him and the Most High, he is emboldened to draw near, “in full assurance of faith,” and company with God, which is to come to know Him more and more (Heb. 10:22).

 

The Fruits of Divine Knowledge. We rightly attribute to the holy angels knowledge and wisdom vastly superior to the best of earth. This is because, through the millenniums, they have, with nothing between them and God, learned of Him, and so increased in these qualities. It can be something of the same with us in our measure. Now that we know God on the new-covenant level of awareness and relationship, and are “known of God” (Gal. 4:9), there is every reason why we ought to be daily growing in His grace and knowledge, as we are exhorted to do (II Pet. 3:18).

 

As we thus fellowship with God in the heavenly places through Christ, we, indeed, come to increasingly know Him, with all the blessed fruits of grace and peace, which are multiplied to us through that knowledge (II Pet. 1:2-3). It must be remembered that the “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” are ministered to us “through the knowledge of God” (v. 3). Hence, if we would acceptably walk in the “newness of life unto which we are risen in our baptism (Rom. 6:4), and add that godliness without which we are “barren and unfruitful” (II Pet. 1:6, 8), we must wholly utilize our pardoned state to grow in God’s knowledge.

 

“Observe, lastly, the ideality of the whole view given of the new covenant. It presents to us the purpose, the potentiality, of the new dispensation, rather than results to be fully realized in this world; though still actually realized as far as the ‘glorious light of the gospel’ illuminates the church, and is allowed to ‘shine into’ the human heart.”—J. Barmby

Christ, the great Illuminator of, and Remedy for, Moral Darkness

Christ is the great Illuminator of, and divinely appointed Remedy for, the moral darkness caused by the entrance of sin into the world, both making manifest and dispelling the darkness. As He Himself declared, "I am the Light of the world. He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (Jn. 8:12).

The Portent of the Lord’s Day

The Portent of the Lord’s Day

By Fred O. Blakely

As the institutions and practices under the law foreshadowed those of grace, so the ones in the dispensation of grace appear to prefigure those to be experienced in glory. That is, of course, as would be expected, given the fact that the divine Father is progressively leading His chosen from the far country of alienation by sin to complete restoration to Himself through Christ His Son. A specific instance of the present witness to the things yet to come is that of the Lord’s day, with its gathering of the saints to break bread in remembrance of and in fellowship with Christ.

The Previous Typology. The principle of such foreshadowing in the Mosaic era is well established and generally known. Moses himself, as lawgiver, was a type of Christ, through whom God gave His final message to man. Aaron adumbrated Him who is our great High Priest, now appearing in the presence of God. The animal sacrifices offered in token atonement for sin were typical of the better and efficacious blood of Christ, which alone could put it away. Portending the resurrection of Christ as “the Firstfruits” of all the dead’s rising (I Cor. 15:20) was the offering of the firstfruits of the wheat and barley harvests, and the other firstfruit offerings, under the law.

The sabbath, kept by Israel in commemoration of God’s resting on the seventh day after creation (Exod. 20:8-11) and of the nation’s deliverance from the Egyptian bondage (Deut. 5:12-15), prefigured the rest of faith under Christ (Heb. 4:3, 10) and the eternal rest that remains for God’s people (v. 9). The shewbread of the tabernacle and temple, which has also been called “the loaves of the presence,” foreshadowed “the bread which we break” at the Lord’s table in the weekly communion (I Cor. 10:16).

The Lord’s Day Witness. It is against the background of this Divine procedure of prefigurement that we perceive the witness of the Lord’s day to something of the glory reserved in Heaven for the faithful. Refreshing it is, of a truth, to the spirit and sustaining to the soul, in the struggles of the faith life, to contemplate that testimony.

On the Lord’s day, as we gather at His table, we come “in the Spirit,” not merely in the flesh, since it is only in the Spirit that we can meet with God (Phil. 3:3; Rev. 1:10). In that capacity, we dissociate ourselves from the flesh with its infirmities, and corporately meet with Christ in the presence of God, the holy angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect. To the extent that we do this, we have a genuine foretaste of the heavenly life.

Even the outward circumstances associated with the assembly tend to corroborate the inward reality that attends it. The brethren are clad in their “Sunday best,” or ought to be. Everyone is on his very choicest behavior, and the prevailing spirit is one of good cheer and warm congeniality. (At least, that is the way it should be). Clearly, this is an earthly prefigurement of the way that it will be in Heaven. There, perfected saints will mingle in glorified society, with nothing at all to mar or disrupt their fellowship. The Lord’s day assembly, thus portends that blessed experience.

The witness of the first day of the week, commemorating the resurrection of Christ, Head of the new and abiding creation, is also evident. Although, on the individual level, the brethren constantly experience the communion of the Holy Spirit, living in the fellowship of the Godhead, once every seven days they gather for the group experience as the body of Christ. Hence, once each week the individual pilgrims in the hostile world rally before God to corporately taste of His good Word and of the heavenly gift, partake of the Holy Spirit and of the powers of the world to come (cf. Heb. 6:4-5). So to they nourish and sustain their spirits for another week in the body of their humiliation, and in the world, by partaking, as it were, beforehand of the con- summate joys that await them at their journey’s end.

The Compelling Prospect. It is in this view of the Lord’s day assembly that Paul’s related appeal in the Thessalonian letter can be best appreciated. After describing Christ’s coming and our being “caught up” with the resurrected saints to meet Him “in the air,” he adds a word of great comfort and delight: “So shall we ever be with the Lord” (I Thess. 4:16-18). If we entered more into the intended spirit of the Lord’s day assembly, we, having had a foretaste of that experience, would more eagerly desire and anticipate its full realization.

In the Second Thessalonian epistle, the Apostle makes the same appeal to the coming glory. Adjuring the church to stead- fastness in the faith, he says, “We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him” (2:1). Ah, that is fullness of glory held before us by both Christ and the Apostles---”our gathering together unto Him!” “Wherever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together” (Lk. 17:37).

As we gather weekly at the table of the Lord, let us recognize the occasion as the antepast of the coming fullness of joy and glory. So shall the assembly of the church have the ministry for its participants that is intended by God, and glorify the Son and Himself as it should. So also shall we be able to accord to the day, with the spirit and understanding, John Newton’s words of praise:

“Day of all the week the best,

Emblem of eternal rest."

The Way to Spiritual Enlightenment

The Way to Spiritual Enlightenment

 

By Fred O. Blakely

The way to spiritual enlightenment lies not so much in lexicology—devotion to the signification and application of words—as at another point. That is genuine devotion of heart and life to God, accompanied by diligent attention to His Word. Ordinarily, any standard version of the English Bible—for English-speaking people—will suffice as the text, with a few wisely-selected helps for reference. The principal requirement for His knowledge is readiness to hear and heed what God, in the Scriptures, has to say to one. 

 

There are numerous texts of the Scriptures that proclaim this fundamental situation. It is but a commentary on the perverseness and self-exaltive bent of men that they quite generally ignore this circumstance, and seek to study God in personal dissociation from and contrariety to Him.

The declarations of Jesus Himself set forth the essentiality of humility and submission to the knowledge of God. "If any man willeth to do His [God's] will," He declared, "he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from Myself" (Jn. 7:17, ASV). To him who has and keeps His commandments, Christ promised that He would come (Jn. 14:15-18, 20-23), and would indwell one and expound God and His kingdom to him (ch. 16:25; cf. vv. 12-15). 

 

The Holy Spirit, as Peter declared, is given to them that obey God (Acts 5:32; cf. ch. 2:38). One of His functions is to make known "the things of God" (I Cor. 2:11-16). Thus, John wrote, "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye [have the wherewithal to] know all things [necessary for life and 

godliness]" (I Jn. 2:20). "The anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you," he continued, "and ye need not that any man teach you" since the anointing "teacheth you all things, and is truth, and is no lie" (v. 27).

 

Even under the old covenant, the principle of illumination by obedience to God was operative, though not to the vastly expanded extent that it now is. "Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light?" asks Isaiah. "Let him trust in the Lord, and stay upon his God" (Isa. 50:10). "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him," declared David; "and He will show them His covenant" (Ps. 25:14).
 

Thus, as Solomon observed, ' The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Prov. 1:7). Without that fear and due reverence, there can be no spiritual acquaintance with the Most High, and so no walk or fellowship with Him. God has promised, however, to have respect to and abide with him who is of 'a contrite and humble spirit." And in that indwelling He will make known to him the manner of the kingdom and the ways of God (Isa. 57:15; cf. ch. 66:1-2). --Fred O. Blakely

The Glory of the Cross

"When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am He," (Jn. 8:28). "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me (Jn. 12:32). Properly understood, the cross is a principal manifestation of Christ's Sonship and glory. Thus, His remark as the cross loomed hard before Him: "The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified" (Jn. 12:23; cf. vv. 24-25, 27-28). On the cross, He put away the sin of the world and brought in everlasting righteousness, so opening the door of salvation to all men.  

God was glorified in the Son when He was "put to death in the flesh, in order to bring God's lost creatures back to Him (I Pet. 3:18). And, since the Son thereby glorified the Father, the Father, in turn, glorified the Son (Jn. 13:31-32; cf. Phil. 2:5-11). 

The same principle is operative with regard to us. If we glorify God by identification with and submission to His Son, God will, in due season, glorify us (Jn. 12:26; Rom. 8:17; Col. 3:3). "If we be dead with Him, we shall also live [and reign] with Him" (II Tim. 2:11-12; cf. Rom. 6:8).--Harold F. Lohse

Go to Dark Gethsemane

Jesus' Sufferings and Death

269 — A place called Gethsemane.

269A place called Gethsemane.7s., 6 lines. 

1 GO to dark Gethsemane,

Ye that feel the tempter's power;

Your Redeemer's conflict see;

Watch with Him one bitter hour;

Turn not from His griefs away;

Learn of Jesus Christ to pray.

 

2 Follow to the judgment-hall,

View the Lord of life arraign'd;

Oh, the wormwood and the gall!

Oh, the pangs His soul sustain'd!

Shun not suffering, shame, or loss;

Learn of Him to bear the cross.

 

3 Calvary's mournful mountain climb

There, adoring at His feet,

Mark that miracle of time,

God's own sacrifice complete.

"It is finish'd!" hear Him cry;

Learn of Jesus Christ to die.

 

4 Early hasten to the tomb,

Where they laid His breathless clay;

All is solitude and gloom:

Who hath taken Him away?

Christ is risen:—He meets our eyes;

Saviour, teach us so to rise.

James Montgomery, 1825.

Our Own Hymn-Book: A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Public, Social, and Private Worship.

The Holy Spirit's Indispensability

The whole world lies in satanic deception and wickedness. We who are of God, therefore, need the enlightenment and constant leadership of the Holy Spirit, if we are to safely negotiate the perilous course through the world to the heavenly home. This illumination, and guidance we have by the Spirit, operating through the written Word of God, as we receive Christ and continue to submit to Him. ''He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life," is our Lord's promise (Jn. 8:12). Without the indwelling Spirit we cannot but walk in darkness (Jer. 10:23), not knowing whither we go. We know not how, nor are we able, to "refuse the evil and choose the good" as we are required to do (cf. Isa. 7:16; Heb. 5:14). Thus, we need daily to pray, after the manner of David, 'Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me" (Ps. 51:11; cf. 27:9), and to constantly seek grace to submit fully to His promptings.—Dean E. Boelt

On the Matter of Completeness

"We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith" (Gal. 5:5). For this reason we ought not expect to be experientially whole and complete until the Savior's appearing. We earnestly long for completeness; the desire for this is written in our constitution. But until the Lord Jesus comes again we shall have to contend with the acute sense of incompleteness, and with coming short of God's glory (Rom. 3:23; 7:10-25). Nevertheless, in the meantime, let us reckon, by faith, upon the blessed reality that we are presently "complete in Him, which is the Head of all principality and power" (Col. 2:10), even in Christ Jesus the Lord. This is God's perspective. Let us continually put forth effort to see this matter as He sees it. And as John declared, "now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is" (I Jn. 3:2). When we are finally like God's Son in the sense spoken of here by John, we shall forever say farewell to incompleteness. —Editor

On the Increase of Hope

Wherever there is interest in the truth "which is according to godliness" (Tit. 1:1, ASV), along with increasing spiritual mindedness, more power to discriminate between the temporal order and the eternal one, between the seen realm and the unseen one, and as well, between the outward man and the inward man, there hope will grow and increase. —Source Uncertain

Paul's Epistle to the Romans and to the Galatians Compared

Romans and Galatians Compared

One brother perceptively observed that, in the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul (in a manner of speaking) walked patiently along with the brethren there at Rome to comfort them as they buried the law [as a means of gaining acceptance with God] (chps. 3-4). However, he severely chastised the Galatians for digging the law up again. 

Let us ever give thanks that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom. 10:4). "The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good" (Rom. 7:12) and it is ever to be regarded as such by those who are in Christ Jesus. It is, however, no longer the source, nor the means, of their justification and their acceptance with God the Father. --Expanded from Kenneth R. Smith

The Largest of All Cemeteries

The Sea, the Largest of All Cemeteries

"And the sea gave up the dead which were in it" (Rev.20:3). "The sea is the largest of all cemeteries, and its slumberers sleep without a monument. All other graveyards in other lands show some distinction between the great and the small, the rich and the poor; but in the great ocean cemetery the king and the clown, prince and peasant, are all alike distinguished. The same waves roll over all; the same requiem by minstrels of the ocean is sung to their honor. Over their remains the same sun shines; and there, unmarked, the weak and the powerful, the plumed and the unhonored, will sleep on until all are awakened by the same trumpet." —Anonymous, Adapted from The Sage Digital Library

The Priority of Proper Reverence for God

Proper reverence for God is the very first element of pure religion. It cannot but be felt by everyone who perceives His greatness and holiness in contrast with his own smallness and defilement. "Reverence is an ennobling quality. It is felt to be degrading only by the vulgar mind which would escape the sense of its own littleness by elevating itself into an antagonist of what is above it. He who has no pleasure in looking up is not fit so much as to look down." Reverence is a sign of great strength; irreverence is one of the surest signs of weakness. No man will ever rise to great height who jeers at sacred things. Fools make a mockery of sin and in so doing they make a mockery of God. And "God is not mocked," it needs to be remembered (Gal. 6:7). --Fred O. Blakely

"Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:28-29).

"Darum, dieweil wir empfangen ein unbeweglich Reich, haben wir Gnade, durch welche wir sollen Gott dienen, ihm zu gefallen, mit Zucht und Furcht; denn unser Gott ist ein verzehrend Feuer."

"C'est pourquoi, recevant un royaume inébranlable, montrons notre reconnaissance en rendant à Dieu un culte qui lui soit agréable, avec piété et avec crainte, car notre Dieu est aussi un feu dévorant."

"Итак мы, приемля царство непоколебимое, будем хранить благодать, которою будем служить благоугодно Богу, с благоговением и страхом, потому что Бог наш есть огнь поядающий."




  




 




 








  

The Drawing Power of the Cross

"I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me" (Jn. 12:32). "Christ made reconciliation by His great propitiatory offering of Himself. As we look at the cross our enmity to God lies down, and we learn in humble penitence to seek for forgiveness. Christ has died for every man (Heb. 2:9). Before that transcendent reality all mutual enmity should be hushed. In the love of our Peacemaker, which He has shown in dying for us, we have the strongest possible motive for a common fervor of love to Him that should quench and drown all petty animosities and unite all Christians into one body."

The Aaronic Blessing

"The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace" (Num. 6:24-26).

This is a blessing that Aaron and his sons were commanded to speak when they blessed the children of Israel.  While the priesthood of Aaron clearly belonged to the first (i.e., the old) covenant, the blessing given here is one that transcends covenants.  It is a summary of the kind of benefits that are particularly reserved for those who are in Christ.  New creatures in Christ Jesus know the inestimable value of, and yearn for the realization of, each of the benefits mentioned in this blessing.  The blessing centers in being granted repentance, and being turned away from ones iniquities (see Acts 3:26).  Being kept of God, the LORD making His face to shine upon the individual believer, the LORD being gracious unto them, and lifting up the light of His countenance upon them are substantive realities that all, who are living by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, have come to regard, and guard for themselves as hid treasure. 

"Der HERR segne dich und behüte dich; der HERR lasse sein Angesicht leuchten über dir und sei dir gnädig; der HERR hebe sein Angesicht über dich und gebe dir Frieden."

"Que l'Éternel fasse luire sa face sur toi, et qu'il t'accorde sa grâce! Que l'Éternel tourne sa face vers toi, et qu'il te donne la paix!"

"да благословит тебя Господь и сохранит тебя! да призрит на тебя Господь светлым лицем Своим и помилует тебя! да обратит Господь лице Свое на тебя и даст тебе мир!"

The Divorce between Faith and Conscience

The divorce between faith and conscience . . . cannot but be calamitous. "The heretic handles the things of God as matters for mere intellectual contests, apart from reverence and godly fear. He disputes about God and Christ, and thinks it unimportant whether his own heart is pure or impure. He walks in open disobedience to God's commandments, and yet thinks himself competent to judge of God's Nature and attributes. He darkens his own soul by sin, and yet dares to approach the mystery of godliness [cf. Ezek. 14:1-8]. --Source of quotation uncertain

Christ, Our City of Refuge

Believers are in Christ Jesus as in their city of refuge, and so are protected from the avenger of sin. "There is therefore now no condemnation" to those who are in the Savior (Rom. 8:1). Through the tender mercy of our God, He has "delivered us from the wrath to come" (I Thess. 1:10). --Fred O. Blakely

Departed Spirit, Whither Flown

 

Departed Spirit, Whither Flown 

      Written in honor of Marshall Shell at his departure from this life.

 

Departed spirit, whither flown 

     from this dread world so vain 

Be thou before the Savior's Throne 

     for thy eternal gain.

Ah yes, departed spirit free 

     from toil and war below. 

Those things which thou didst long to see               

now clearly thou dost know. 

In Christ thy faith was found while here 

     with earth a discontent, 

Of God there was a holy fear, 

     and now the veil is rent. 

Soar out, departed spirit free 

     express thy inner joy. 

Soar high, thou'rt now at liberty 

     where flesh can ne'er annoy. 

Through worlds not ending take thy rest 

     thy warfare now is done. 

For thee no more the fiery test 

     thy race at last is run.

                 --By Given O. Blakely,

Peace through the Knowledge of God

 

Peace through the Knowledge of God 

By Fred O. Blakely 

“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord” (II Pet. 1:2). 

A striking demonstration of the perverseness and contradictoriness of the natural heart is its recoil from God, who alone is, and has, the complete sufficiency which it wholly lacks, and a sense of which it so desperately needs. This aversion is consistently manifested in the outright worldling, he plainly evidencing that he wants no part of the Most Holy. And it is all too often apparent in those who profess to love God. The typical churchman’s attitude seems to be that he can endure a little of the Divine acquaintance and fellowship, but draws back from becoming more than casually involved therein. Thus, do both classes forfeit for themselves the very real and efficacious benefits of spiritual knowledge and experience which are available from the “God of our salvation,” choosing rather to languish in their own blindness, impotency, and general wretchedness (Ps.65:5).

Its Availability to the Saints. One of the principal benefits available to people through the knowledge of God is that blessed tranquility and repose of soul which everyone desires and pursues, but which comparatively few, indeed, find. It is denominated by Scripture “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,” and is certified as able to “keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7; cf. v. 6). 

“The knowledge of God is the sphere in which grace and peace are communicated to the soul. They cannot be found outside that sphere.” So might Paul, and we, well “count all things but loss for the excellency” of this knowledge (Phil. 3:8). “The grace and the peace of God flow abundantly into the soul that seeks this heavenly wisdom, and that longs for and obtains this inner knowledge of God and His Christ.” 

This peace is nothing more than a reflection of that perfect calmness and poise which constantly prevail before God’s throne in heaven, symbolized by the glassy sea (Rev.4:6; 15:2). It is generated and maintained in the human heart by the knowledge that the all-wise, all powerful, and merciful Jehovah reigns, and that all one’s times and circumstances are in His hands (Deut. 33:3; Ps. 31:5). Hence, the declaration of our text that grace and peace are “multiplied” to the believer “through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.” 

Its Proclamation by Scripture. Not only, says the Apostle, is peace, which is the product of grace received not “in vain” (II Cor.6:1), supplied by knowing God; it is “multiplied,” or increased, thereby. Hence, the more knowledge, the more peace. As we “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Pet. 3:18), we experience more and more of His peace. The end of this process is realization of that “perfect peace” promised to those whose minds are “stayed” on God (Isa. 26:3). 

The centrality of grace and peace to the saints’ heritage in Christ is emphasized by their prominence in the apostolic writings. Thirteen of Paul’s letters begin with an invocation of them (Hebrews only being excepted). both of Peter’s have the invocation, as does John’s second epistle, and that of Jude. Among other qualities, the “fruit of the Spirit” is peace (Gal. 5:22), the Divine kingdom essentially consisting in “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 14:7). Jesus, it will be recalled, “made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:20), and we, “being justified by faith” in that blood, now “have peace with God” through Him (Rom. 3:25; 5:1). We read that “God hath called us to peace” (I Cor. 7:15); thus, we are emboldened to “draw near” to Him through His Son in earnest quest thereof. 

Its Rationality in the State of the Case. The state of the case between God and us is altogether conducive to our experience of personal peace. All that we know of the Father, beckons and encourages us to seek Him through the Son, and to do so is to get better acquainted with Him, and in that acquaintance to be put at ease in our souls. This is, quite simply, the situation contemplated by the assertion that peace is multiplied, to God’s children through their knowledge of Him. And what a blessed situation it is, of a truth! What powerful constraint it ought to exert upon us to be constantly “increasing in the knowledge of God,” as we are supposed to be (Col. 1:10). 

God Is for Us. “God is for us,” especially if we be joined to His Son (Rom. 8:31). That transcendently glorious fact seems to be lost upon the consciousness of those who are disinclined to Him. They act as if He were some sort of a “Hatchetman,” unrelentingly bent upon their ruin. But the God of Scripture is quite the contrary. He “so loved” the lost world that He gave His only begotten Son for its salvation (Jn. 3:16). Accordingly, we conclude with the Apostle, “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32). It is written, “God is not willing that any should perish,” but “will have all men to be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. 2:4; II Pet. 3:9).

So is the Father called “the God of peace,” as the Son is denominated “the Prince of peace” (Isa. 9:6; Phil. 4:9; Heb. 13:20). He is also referred to as “the God of patience and consolation,” or of “patience and comfort” (Rom.15:5). Jesus Himself bequeathed Divine peace to His disciples on the night in which He was betrayed. “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you,” He said. “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (Jn. 14:27). Again, He declared, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (ch. 16:33). On the same occasion, the Master said to the Father, “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent” (ch. 17:3), connecting spiritual life with Divine knowledge. So the Apostle: “To be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6). 

Its Realization by the Individual. If we are to have “the peace of God” rule in our hearts, as we are exhorted to do (Col. 3:15), our work thus is cut out. That peace comes by the knowledge of Him who has called us to His own peace. Eliphaz the Temanite, of old time, knew the secret. “Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace” (Job 22:21). Hence, we must seek the Lord “while He may be found,” and call upon Him “while He is near” (Isa. 55:6). This is because our realization of the heritage of peace that belongs to us in Christ is strictly proportioned to the measure of our knowledge of the Father as He is revealed to us in Scripture. It is not to be had independently of that knowledge, but through it. 

This circumstance obviously necessitates study of the written word—arduous study, not a mere casual reading—as well as illumination of the Word by the Spirit. Thus, our Lord’s commandment: “Labor not for that meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give you; for Him hath God the Father sealed” (Jn. 6:27). So must we “labor” to enter into the rest of faith, or the peace of God, as it is elsewhere declared, or we shall not possess that heavenly blessing (Heb. 4:3, 11). 

“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing (and in growing in His grace and knowledge), that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 15:13). Thus, shall ye “neither be barren nor unfruitful” in the knowledge of God and of His Anointed (II Pet. 1:8), realizing in yourself His peace, “which passeth all understanding.”

благодать и мир вам да умножится в познании Бога и Христа Иисуса, Господа нашего.

que la grâce et la paix vous soient multipliées par la connaissance de Dieu et de Jésus notre Seigneur!

Gott gebe euch viel Gnade und Frieden durch die Erkenntnis Gottes und Jesu Christi, unsers HERRN!