The Fruit of Trust in God's Love, Part 1

Trust Yields Divine Fellowship and Confidence

 

The Fruit of Trust in God’s Love

Part 1

By Fred O. Blakely

 “And we know and have believed the love which God hath in us. God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him. Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, even so are we in this world. There is no fear in love: but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath punishment; and he that feareth is not made perfect in love” (I Jn. 4:16-18, ASV).

The evidence and fruit of love by the children of God, as here set forth by John, are immeasurably precious. Certainly they are to be earnestly desired and diligently sought by all who in truth call on the Father. Particular note should be made of the kind of love of which the Apostle speaks, however. It is not merely the gushing affection and sentimentality that so often parades itself as the paragon of godliness. Valid testimony of filial relationship to the Most Holy and effectual banishment of the cringing fear of Him obviously have a more substantial basis than that.

Traced to its ultimate source, the fruit of the Spirit clearly stems from the individual’s firm and implicit reliance upon God, not from self-determination or self-will. That is to say, it is rooted in the Divine mercy and grace, and is actually nothing more than the issue of those qualities from within the believer, who has received them from Above. Hence, one cannot evince his or her status as a child of the heavenly King by just starting to “love” people and be kind to, and considerate of, them. Neither can such ones banish their inherent fear of death and the eternal judgment by such tactics.

These blessings are not the result of loving the brethren.  Contrariwise, love of the saints and deliverance from fear themselves take the nature of results of something that lies beneath them. And that something is one’s utter dependence upon the God of all grace, as He is revealed and set forth in the holy Scriptures.

The Basis for our Dependence. “And we know and have believed the love which God hath in us.” There, there is secret of all that fortifies the heart and flows out of the life of the saint. It is whole-hearted faith in God and unhesitating dependence on the representation of Himself which He has given. “Herein was the love of God manifested in us,” the Apostle has previously declared, “that God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (vv. 9-10). Again, “we have beheld and bear witness that the Father hath sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (v. 14). And, again, “And the witness is this, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (ch. 5:10-12, ASV).

“The Apostle gives us here a startlingly beautiful succession of truths concerning love—divine love—revealed in Christ, and laying hold of men.”  The revised rendering, “which God hath in us,” rather than “toward us,” as in the A.V. (v. 16), is to be especially noted. The believer who is pressing on unto perfection in the Son (Heb. 6:1-3) has gone much further than to know the love of God to him, as that love was historically manifested in the gift of Jesus. His awareness of that love began with the belief of the record of its objective display, but it certainly did not end there. Through the Spirit which indwells him, he knows this love in himself, as “a reviving, cheering, glowing, inspiring, life-giving power.” It is in him as the living water of which Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman, “springing up into everlasting life” (Jn. 4:14). Of a truth, as Paul remarked, the love of God has been “shed abroad” in his heart by “the Holy Spirit which is given unto us” (Rom. 5:5; cf. Tit. 3:5). “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself” (Jn. 5:10). “The Spirit Itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Rom. 8:16). So has the believer received Him who is the Life, Christ Himself now dwelling in his heart by faith (Eph. 3:17).

John’s order of thought here, it seems, may be expressed somewhat as follows: “Divine love is—1. A manifestation among us (v. 9). 2. An impartation to us (Rom. 5:5). 3. A reciprocal love, as ours has been called forth thereby (v. 19). 4. A transforming love, causing us to love as God loves (v. 12). 5. A self-consummating love, fulfilling its own ends in and through us, causing its outworking to be perfected in us, as its newly opened channel, through which it is flowing on to the boundless ocean of everlasting life and glory.”

The Reciprocal Indwelling. The Apostle goes on in our basic text to assert the mutual and reciprocal indwelling of God and the believer. “He that abideth,” or “dwelleth,” in the love of God, he declares, “abideth in God, and God abideth in him” (v. 16). In verse 15, he has set forth the same situation with reference to confession of the faith, though in reverse order. “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God.” Other Scriptures which represent such mutuality of fellowship include Jn. 6:56; 14:23; Rom. 8:9; II Cor. 13:5; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:18, 22; Col. 1:27; Rev. 3:20). Thus “he that dwells in sacred love has the love of God ‘shed abroad’ upon his heart, has the impress of God upon his spirit, the Spirit of God sanctifying and sealing him, lives in meditation, views, and tastes of the divine love, and will ere long go to dwell with God for ever.”

“In some passages, the Dweller in the heart is spoken of as Christ, sometimes as the Spirit, sometimes as the Father with the Son, sometimes as God by the Spirit. In all cases, the meaning is that there is a divine Life and Energy within the person, quickening, inspiring, and controlling him—a new directing and strengthening Force, leading on to all holy action, to patient endurance, to final victory. Man moves not upward and heavenward by a self-elicited force, but soars thither by a divine power imparted and sustained from Above.”

He who abides, or dwells, in the love of God and of the brethren is said to abide in God, “for God is love.” Here is truly a heavenly state. The soul is at home in God, and continually resides there. “God is not only a new life in him, but a new home for him, in which he abides, and from which he cannot be dislodged. His wanderings are over. He has a settled rest, an everlasting home.  It is the Father’s house, in the Father’s heart—the heart of boundless love. He is now seated in ‘the heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ (Eph. 2:6). Happy, happy home! It is heaven. It will never break up. No foe can invade it. Sin shall not mar it. Death cannot disturb it. Oh, to have found a home like this!” It is to be observed that the two indwellings compliment each other. “God dwelling in the soul ensures the soul continuously dwelling in its true home; and the soul, being always at home, has entire repose—it is full of God—leaving all its force free for happy, holy worship and service of God.”

John’s connection of the two indwellings with confession of faith and abiding in divine love is at once remarkable and deeply significant. The reciprocal abiding, he declares, is realized by him who lives and moves in God’s love and also by him who openly and continuously avows to the doctrine of Christ. Actually, the two practices—confessing and abiding—are concurrent, and are not to be contemplated in dissociation.

That Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of the world, and so the Revealer of God’s love, is the message addressed to faith (I Jn. 4:14). “The Christian revelation is—what should endear it to us—the revelation of divine love. The articles of our revealed faith are but so many articles relating to divine love. The history of the Lord Christ is the history of God’s love to us. All His transactions in and with His Son were but testifications of His love, and means to advance us to the love of God.”

Faith receives Christ upon the basis of God’s revelation and with Him the love and salvation which He reveals. “Confession constantly rings out the faith, and by so doing vastly increases faith’s realizing power. This, through the energy of the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 12:3), makes the love of God in Christ so real to the faithful confessor, that he actually dwells in love, and so reaches the state specified as ‘dwelling in love’ (v. 16). Thus the two conditions differ only as the terminus a quo from the terminus a quem [or, the point of commencment from that of completion]. Confession is the former; dwelling in love is the latter. This is verified by the order of the phrases, being in the one case, ‘God dwelleth in him, and he in God’; and in the other, ‘dwelleth in God, and God in him.’”

(Concluded Tomorrow)

 

A Student's Prayer

Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.
If scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.
Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene..
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.
For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all..
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the State..
We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks...
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong..
We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles...
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.
It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen

--Penned by a student, Submitted by Barbara Rivera

Our Satisfied God

OUR SATISFIED GOD

 

By Gene Hutchcraft

 

“He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.”(Isaiah 53:11).

 

INTRODUCTION

 

The prophet speaks, more than any other under Moses’ law, of God’s great work to redeem; that which the Might One is inclined to do despite the blasphemy of His name through the generations in Israel. And He determined to do so before those things occurred. For human behavior is a minor motivation in God’s ‘eternal purpose.’ Human conduct, wicked or righteous, is not even in the category of ‘eternal.’ So, how could it be the ground of fulfillment in God’s eternal agenda? It cannot be so! As is written, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.”  (Isaiah 46:10)

 

Now, with this godly perspective, that of God’s pleasure, let us then give attention to what the prophet expounds of the impact of this life upon Him ‘Who is, was, and is to come, Who liveth forever and ever; Who created all things and for Whose pleasure they are and were created.’ (Revelation 4:8-9) He is the One with whom we have to do. He is the primary factor for Whom these events are worked, displayed, and completed. Whether or not men recognize it!

 

The subject of this text ‘grew up before Him’. The Most High observed this One while in the earth and found no spot or blemish in His sayings or doings, even that which men could not examine God did. This One grew in wisdom, favor, and stature with God Who declared publicly, ‘This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.’ Then God repeated it again as the culmination of Jesus’ time in the earth approached. Adding this decree, ‘Hear ye Him.’

 

In this man God accomplished a thing that men can believe only by God’s provision in their hearts and minds. Otherwise, it would not enter them. For it is more than historical events for men to examine and then pass their jaundiced judgment. This is God’s great salvation which is found in no other place or One.

 

 

- HE SHALL SEE -

GOD LOOKED FOR AND MADE A REASON TO SHOW HIMSELF TRUE, GOOD, AND MERCIFUL

This involved His wrath, mercy, and grace. His wrath over that which offended Him, was detestable in His sight even from the beginning at the tree. His mercy because He knew that without it none would be spared the wrath or have room to stand and look to Him for cleansing and hope. His grace which is designed to enable, equip, and establish believers to abide with Him, receive from Him in that abiding, and take hold of that for which He takes hold of them.

 

HE HAD TO SEE THIS IN THE EARTH FOR HIS OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS SAKE

This is where sin and sinners are, the place from which you can come out, can recover and live by faith. God made the earth for this purpose to show Himself able, good, and faithful to Himself against great indignities or insults to His name. Yet, there was none who could intervene for a basis upon which God could then extend Himself to sinners for recovery. “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.” (Jeremiah 5:1) ● “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.” (Ezekiel 22:30).

 

THEN THERE WOULD BE A BASIS UPON WHICH HE COULD RECONCILE SINNERS

God must have a cause so He made the means by which He could reconcile the contrite heart to himself. He said that he dwells with such and so made the circumstance by which to exhibit this reality of what He esteems in the human heart, even those blemished and spotted. He would have to see a reason in this place of rebellion and hardness. Then He could send a message of good news that hope and reconciliation are real to those who flee to Him for refuge from the wrath to come.

 

 -THE TRAVAIL OF HIS SOUL -

PREVIOUSLY REPORTED OF GREAT TOIL AND LABOR IN THE SUFFERER

This is a price to be paid, full and real, of the human soul for sin against God. This debt is owed to God Most High for the offense against His name, righteousness, truth, and goodness that men accrue by their refusal to retain the knowledge of Him. This plunges them into every form of godless appetites with greediness. Bro. Paul writes of it in this manner. “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”(Ephesians 4:17-19) Such is the continuing condition of our race without the knowledge of God.

 

The prophet declares that God extracts from this man. This man was stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God of the price sinners owed for their rebellion toward God. That man bore our griefs, sorrows, transgressions, bruising,  and iniquities for our waywardness. Not His own! The Lord laid all of this grief as a charge against His soul, not ours. No man saw this suffering, only God and the heavenly hosts.

 

THAT WHICH GOD WROUGHT WITH THE SUFFERER’S COOPERATION

It was excruciating work which no other man could engage because of the weakness in their nature. Such a burden was beyond the capacity of a sinner, one of Adam’s nature. That nature is what demanded the high price and this man was willing to bear it, alone on the winepress of the wrath of God. He took up this body prepared for Him and gave His back and cheeks to the whip and those who plucked out the beard. However, it was the travail of the soul that secured satisfaction for God.

 

THIS BLAMELESS SPOTLESS ONE COULD BEAR THE BURDEN AND RECOVER

Strong in love for righteousness and justice as did His Father, He would not compromise. “And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.” Isaiah 11:2-5)

 

So, He entered the strongman’s house, tied him and took His possessions. By this One the kingdom forcefully advanced in the earth, gathering numbers and moving them toward the appointed destination of God’s choosing. 

 

- AND SHALL BE SATISFIED -

THERE IS GOOD REASON FOR GOD’S WRATH TOWARD MEN ON THE EARTH

Sin in human nature, bent them away from God and to corruption, things which God abhors or despises; things which never entered His mind, and that from Israel as they followed in the way of the nations rather than the path of life and peace from God. They said they wanted to become as the others and so they did! The nations as earlier declared by bro. Paul who also spoke of them without God in the world.

 

GOD’S JUSTICE MUST FIND FULFILLMENT

He cannot let this stand without answering and a resolution to the challenge of His government. The earth is a place for Him to demonstrate how He will do this while gathering for His name a people out of the earth who love and want the same as He, though they were once enemies in their minds by evil deeds.

 

So, God sent a substitute for the race out of the chosen people, all the while giving a testimony of His justice and righteousness in their law. However, the law of Moses was not meant to save, it could not do so by its nature. It proved the need for it even in a people of God’s choosing. This law also demonstrated the power of a substitute offering, and interceding priesthood, and deliverance from that which was otherwise too powerful.

 

PRIMARY PART OF HIS NATURE WHICH CANNOT BE DENIED

Holiness must remove that which offends, only God can and will act appropriately in these things. So, He does in this man of His choosing, a consistency demonstrated in the revelation granted to Israel. They suffered God’s wrath through their generations. Their status as God’s people did not protect them from it when they turned from the way revealed to them. God’s justice later found Zedekiah, who struck Micaiah the true prophet. It also found Hananiah who broke the wooden yoke from Jeremiah’s shoulders. It found false prophets Ahab and Zedekiah in Babylon, whom Nebuchadnezzar roasted in the fire.

 

 

Seeing these things fulfilled, honored, and loved by the Son on the earth was a great pleasure to the Almighty. Much more then when His Son fully submitted to the substitutionary work of the cross, bearing sin, being cursed, and becoming sin that God might spend His wrath in Him rather than in sinful men who could not recover. He recovered and returned to the Father to take up the greater and eternal work of intercession and as a conduit of provision for those who live by faith, walk in the truth, and wait for His return as promised.

 

The Way to Recover Zeal for Christ

 By Fred O. Blakely

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent,” the exalted Lord urged the backslidden, luke-warm Laodicean church (Rev. 3:19). This also is His exhortation to all today who have lost their “first love” for Him and lapsed into carnal complacency (ch. 2:4). The tendency to become “weary in well-doing” and faint in our minds is one to which we are constantly exposed (Gal. 6:9; II Th. 3:13; Heb. 12:3). The result of succumbing to this tendency is to become merely formal and perfunctory in our devotion to God. Thus, it is vital that we know how both to avoid this snare of Satan, or to recover ourselves from it and to remain, or get back, in full fellowship with, and the hearty worship and service of, God through our Savior (II Tim. 2:5-26).

According to scholars, the word rightly translated “zealous” means literally “boiling with heat.” Christ’s call thus is an exhortation to spiritual fervor. He desires and requires that we be “hot” in our relationship to Him. Any level of devotion short of that is unacceptable (Rev. 3:15-16). Certainly, a mere casual attitude in the matter is rejected with vehemence.

The Crucial Question. How are we to recapture the fire of first-faith, once it is lost? That is the important question, and the one which confronts us in the light of the rebuke of the Laodiceans and the call to repentance and zeal. Obviously, “there is nothing in all the world worse than for a person to try to work up emotion—nothing which is so sure, sooner or later, to come to mischief, sure to breed hypocrisy and all manner of evil. If there is anything worse than trying to work up emotion, it is attempting to pretend it.”

How, then, may we rekindle the flame of zeal for the Lord?

It would seem that the way is indicated in the message to the Laodiceans as one would expect it to be. “When our Master says to us, ‘Be zealous therefore, and repent,’ we must remember that zeal in a person ought to be a consequence of knowledge. Seeing that we are reasonable creatures, intended to be guided by our understanding, it is upsetting to the whole of one’s nature if his heart works independently of his head. The only way in which we can safely and wholesomely increase our zeal is by increasing our grasp of the truth which feeds it.”

The Unmistakable Answer. When properly analyzed, therefore, the essential intent of the exhortation, “Be zealous therefore, and repent,” becomes evident. It is a call to “lay hold upon, and meditate upon, the great truths that will make your heart glow.” Observe that this exhortation is a consequence, being tied to what goes before it by the adverb “therefore.” And what precedes the exhortation? A whole series of considerations set forth by the glorified Lord such as these: “I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire ... and white raiment . . . and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve” (v. 18). “That is to say, lay hold of the truth that Christ possesses a full store” of all that you require to remedy your backslidden condition. “Meditate on that great truth, and it will kindle a flame of desire and of fruition in your heart.”

The Demonstration to John. It will be remembered that the Savior employed the identical technique in dealing with the wavering faith of John the Baptist. “Go and show John those things which you do hear and see,” He said to John’s disciples, after “in that same hour” performing numerous mighty miracles in attestation of His deity (Mt. 11:1-6; Lk. 7:19-23). It was designed that John should regain his initial conviction concerning Jesus (Jn. 1:19-34) by due consideration of this evidence of His Person.

Prominent among the qualities of our Lord which the Laodiceans were to ponder in restoring the fervency of their devotion to Him is that of His divine love. “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” In other words, the call is to “grasp the great thought of the loving Christ, all of whose dealings, even when His voice assumes severity, and His hand comes armed with a rod, are the outcome and manifestation of His love. Sink into that love, and that will make your heart glow. Think of the earnest, patient, long-suffering appeal which the Master makes, bearing with all our weaknesses and our shortcomings. Let these sweet thoughts of a Christ who gives everything, of a Christ whose dealings with His people are in love--let them draw us to Him, and kindle and keep alight a brighter flame of consecration and devotion in our hearts to Him. Feed upon the great truths of the gospel which kindle zeal.”

Christ's Universal Headship

By Dean E. Boelt

"He has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of His will, according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and in earth" (Eph. 1:9-10, RSV; cf. Gen. 49:10; Jn. 10:16; 11: 49-52; Eph. 2:11-22; Col. 1:18-20; II Tim. 1:9-10).

Illuminated by the Spirit, Paul here envisions the accomplishment of God's "eternal Purpose" in the Son (Eph. 3:8-11). That will be the uniting of "all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth." Or, as the KJV has it, the gathering "together in one all things in Christ." So shall he "in all things" have "the preeminence," or Headship, pursuant to the good pleasure of the Father (Col. 1:18-19). 

As Paul would say, In that all things, thus, shall be "put under Him," nothing [save the Father Himself] shall be left "that is not put under Him" (Heb. 2:8-9; cf. I Cor. 15:24-28). In the diction of Isaiah: "This is the purpose that is purposed" by Jehovah of hosts, "and who shall annul it?" (Isa. 14:26-27, ASV).        

The Clear Representation. What is here clearly represented is the universal Headship of Christ. All that is in heaven and on earth—the Father only excepted—is to be united with Him. That includes the unfallen angels, as well as the redeemed part of humanity. So will be fully realized God's appointment of the Son as "the Beginning of the [new] creation of God" (Rev. 3:14), "the Firstborn of every creature" (Col. 1:15), and "the Head over all things" (Eph. 1:22).

As Adam was head of the first and repudiated creation, which shall then have been destroyed, Christ will be manifested as Head of the new and abiding one. It needs to be stressed—as Scripture does—that there will be nothing—absolutely nothing (except the Father)—that is exempt from this Headship. With that exception—as is so now in firstfruit regeneration—Christ will be "all" (Col. 3:10-11). The enemies who "would not" that He should "reign over them" will have been brought and "slain," or forever separated from Him (Lk. 19:27; cf. v. 14).         

Those today who, because of satanic blinding, have an inadequate concept of the Lord Jesus, need to redo their thinking by due attention to Scripture's representation of Him, and God's purpose for His preeminence. The Son's question of the Pharisees is one with which all humanity must deal: "What think ye of Christ?" (Mt. 22:41-45).         

The Matter of Universalism. In view of the scope of the representation made by the texts cited above, the question of universalism naturally presents itself. That such is the intended meaning of them, however, is precluded by the whole tenor of Scripture, which is against it. The gathering of all things under the Headship of Christ cannot include those who persistently rejected His rule while in the earthly body. They, together with the Devil and all false religion, will be "cast into the lake of fire," and forever banished "from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power" (II Th. 1:7-10; Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14-15; cf. Mt. 25:41, 46). The only conceivable sense in which they could be said to remain under His authority is that they are eternally excluded from Him thereby.         

The resolution of the apparent difficulty posed by the representation of the universal gathering to Christ is apparent. It is seen by due regard for the present situation, as it is considered by God. All accountable persons not now in the Son, or under His Headship, are dead in God's view. That is, they are spiritually separated from Him. Hence, Scripture's consistent portrayal of the case.         

The Gentiles, being dead in their trespasses and sins, and the "uncircumcision" of their flesh (Col. 2:13), were "without Christ" and "without God" (Eph. 2:12). In fact, as Peter declares, they "were not a people" (I Pet. 2:10; cf. Hos. 2:23; Rom. 9:25-26). The wrath of God was actually upon them (Eph. 2:3; cf. Jn. 3:35-36). Such, it must be emphasized, is the state of all today who have rejected the Headship of Christ.         

The Intended Meaning. When, therefore, our Lord is represented as ultimately to be the Head over all things in heaven and on earth, the meaning is clear. His dominion will be over the regenerated order, as well as over that of the unfallen intelligences. In God's recognition, there will not be any other order. Everything and everyone contrary to Christ shall have been forever banished into "outer darkness" (Mt. 25:30), which term denotes total ostracism from God.        

In other words, in that eternal order of things, nothing that has not been gathered "together" to Christ will be considered as existent. So, as it is written, shall the "working" of Christ's power eventually "subdue all things unto Himself" (Phil. 3:21).

As regards the state of non-recognition that shall then prevail concerning everyone and everything that is not identified with Christ, both Isaiah and John have a clear word. "Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth," declares the former, speaking for God; "and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind" (Isa. 65:17). Beholding a preview of Christ's second coming, John records, "From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them" (Rev. 20:11).          

The lesson and exhortation from these considerations should be evident, and are certainly pronounced. If you want to have part in "the everlasting kingdom" of Christ (II Pet. 1:11), you must get into it now, and remain therein until death. If, as an accountable person, you leave this world under the headship of Adam, you shall be forever excluded from the new and abiding creation over which Christ shall reign as the Head.

The Essential Work of Feeding God's Sheep

 

The Essential Work of Feeding God's Sheep

By Al Stoner

"Because of the influence of the once-saved-always-saved teaching which has permeated the professing church with all its varied forms and guises,  religious men have neglected, for the most part, the all-essential work of believing God and His Christ (cf. Jn. 6:28-30), both for themselves and for their constituents.  Religious activities and religious recruitment have now supplanted the feeding of the flock of God (cf. I Pet. 5:2; Acts 20:28; Jn. 21:15-17; Mic. 7:14; Isa. 40:11; Ezek. 34:2-3, 23; II Sam. 5:2).

But what about God's sheep?  And what shall be done for Jesus' brethren?  Can it possibly be right that such ones as these should be neglected?  Those who are begotten of God live by every Word which proceeds out of the mouth of God, and are not able to spiritually subsist on religious duties and obligations.  And those "ministers" whose primary focus is upon "the lost", to the neglect of Jesus' sheep, are, consequently, out of step with what the Father and the Son are doing (cf. Jn. 5:17) salvationally, and such ones are at best "hirelings" (cf. Jn. 10:12-13), and possibly even betrayers. (The Lord knows their hearts.)

"The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God" (I Cor. 1:18). Thus, when the people of God come together, this is not to be a time of campaigning to recruit those who are outside the church. (Those who think that this is the case, only reveal their ignorance of the manor of the kingdom of God, and stumble at the Word of God.) Only a mere cursory recollection of Christ's Words is needed, in order to see through the blatant error of those who have given themselves wholly, or mostly, to what they call "church membership recruitment" (cf. Mt. 11:25-27; 13:10-11; Mk. 4:10-11; Jn. 9:39-41; 12:38-41; Rom. 11:8-10; II Cor. 4:3-4).

The assembly of the saints is to be a time and place where there is an abundance of "edification, exhortation, and comfort" (I Cor. 14:3). It is to be a time "for doctrine, for reproof, for correction," and "for instruction in righteousness" (II Tim. 3:16). To use an modern-day earthly analogy, the gathering of the Christ's brethren can be likened unto a "kidney dialysis treatment", where souls, weak and weary from a season of fighting the good fight of faith, are once again confirmed (cf. Acts 14:22) and rejuvenated as they give careful and diligent attendance upon the Word of God. This is to be a time when men exhorted to "continue in the faith" and to "maintain good works" (Tit. 3:8, 14). It is, after all, the love of Christ that constrains us (II Cor. 5:14) to do whatever God calls upon us to do. Therefore, when the saints of the Most High God come together, their focus, at that time particularly, is to be upon that which renews and increases that blessed and holy constraint.  When the people of God come together for such a holy purpose as this, the Lord Jesus, Himself, has promised to drawn near, and be present in the midst of the ones so gathering (cf. Mt. 18:20; 28:20; Lk. 24:13-33; Rev. 1:11-13, etc.).  And it is His sanctifying Presence alone which makes the gathering to profitable for the nurturing of one's faith.

When God's sheep are fed and nourished by the Word of God, they will, indeed, let their lights shine before men (and that, without any coercion from so-called church leaders). Such individuals, who have been regularly and duly nourished by God's Word, will regard ministering that Word to fellow men and women, not only as a responsibility, but also as a blessed and coveted opportunity and privilege. We are laborers together with God in this matter (cf. I Cor. 3:9; II Cor. 5:18-19). And what a blessed thing it is to labor together with the God of Heaven in this matter, and to know that the Most High is speaking through us, whom He has set apart to be His oracles (cf. I Pet. 4:11)!

Salvation is primarily God's enterprise (Ps. 74:12), not ours. "The ministry of reconciliation" (cf. II Cor. 5:18-19) has been given to us by God, and it is a ministry which demands abundantly more that what men, who are walking according to the flesh, are able to give. This is a ministry that is heartily engaged in by those who are new creatures in Christ (cf. II Cor. 5:17), and who have a vibrant connection to the Vine (Jn. 15:2). It is a ministry where God and men are working together, and where God is glorified through Jesus Christ, because it is evident that He is the One that is working. Therefore, it is sheer folly to even think of our engaging in this work apart from God working with us, and we with Him. --The initial thoughts were provoked by a comment by Dan Brueck, and summarized by the Banner editor. --Al Stoner

The Absurdity of the Premillennial Theory

"The theory of Premillennialism asserts that Christ came to earth for the purpose of setting up His kingdom. Quite by surprise, He was rejected by the Jews, however, and established the church instead. When He return's, He will allegedly raise only the righteous dead, after which He will restore national Israel, sit upon David's literal throne in Jerusalem and subsequently reign for 1,000 years. After this, the resurrection of the wicked dead and the final judgment are supposed to occur. It is difficult to see how a theory could be more grossly erroneous. It is false because: 

"It reflects upon the integrity of Bible prophecy by implying that the Jewish rejection of Christ was a miscarriage in God's plan. However, the Old Testament clearly foretold that rejection (Isa. 53:1; Jn. 12:37-38; Ps. 118:22-23; Matt. 21:46). 

"It denies plain Bible teaching concerning the establishment of the kingdom in the first century (Dan. 2:44; Isa. 2:2-4; Acts 2:16-17; CoL 1:13; Rev. 1:4, 6, 9). 

"It suggests that the church was not a part of God's eternal purpose, but only an interim, emergency measure (Eph. 3:10; Rev. 13:8; cf. Acts 20:28). 

"It denies that Christ is now seated on David's throne (Zech. 6:12-13: Heb. 8:1: Lu. 1:32-33; Acts 2:30; Rev. 3:21).

"It denies that we are in the 'last days' (Acts 2:16-17), and that Christ's coming will 'end' this dispensation (I Cor. 15:24: cf. Lu. 17:26-30). 

"It affirms, contrary to Scripture, that there will be two literal resurrections from the dead 1,000 years apart (Jn. 5:28-29: 24:15). 

"It denies the expressed symbolic nature of the Book of Revelation by literalizing its figures (Rev. 1:1; 20:1-6)." --from The Christian Courier, Wayne Jackson

Blessed Lord, with Us Abide

Gracious Father, guard Thy children 

From the foe's destructive power; 

Lead them, Lord, keep them from falling 

In this dark and trying hour. 

Thou wilt surely save Thy people; 

All our works are daily tried. 

As we walk the pilgrim pathway, 

Blessed Lord, with us abide. 

—Selected by Oasis 

The Sabbath Not Bound under Christ

The First Day Commemorates Greater Occasion 

The Sabbath Not Bound under Christ

By Fred O. Blakely

The persistent espousal by one of our readers of sabbath-day observance as binding upon the church [some time ago] prompted The Banner's public consideration of his claims in the light of apostolic doctrine. "Your paper gives most of the truth," this reader, whom we shall not here identify, wrote us in one of several letters. "Without the sabbath, however, no one is really complete yet.The sabbath and the law are all in Jesus Christ. When you or anyone accepts Jesus Christ as his Savior he has to accept the sabbath and the law. The Bible has the proof. Is the Bible true? Then it has the proof of what I state."

In a later communication, that writer went further, making keeping of the law (including sabbath observance) a condition of eternal salvation. "All who are not encompassing the law and the sabbath in their ministry are in danger of Rev. 22:18-19 and Mt. 7:21-23," he wrote. "The churches on the first day of the week, compared to the churches of the sabbath, are like the people on the broad road that leads to destruction. The sabbath church is like those on the narrow road that leads to eternal life (Mt. 7:13-14).

The Claims of Modern Judaizers. This position, of course, is full-blown Judaism, against which Paul almost constantly strove in the first-century church. It is the attempt to bind the law upon the saints under the new covenant. Except you "keep the law of Moses," you "cannot be saved," was the contention (Acts 15:1, 5). The doctrine's crucial significance now stems from the fact that it is widely contended for today, and by virtue of the very zeal for God with which it is insisted upon, poses a subtile and highly effective threat to "the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free" (Gal. 5:1). The line of these twentieth-century Judaizers, like those of apostolic times, is that they wholeheartedly receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, but that, as a believer in Christ, one must also keep the law of Moses. That is precisely what our correspondent said above, and he truly represented the contention of all of his kind.

One of the glaring inconsistencies of those who take this position is that they "desire to be under the law" (Gal. 4:21), but without its penalties, which are inseparable from it. If we are bound by the Mosaic code as such, we are bound by all of it. The penalties which it levied for disobedience, which in many cases—notably that of sabbath breaking—was death (Exod. 31:14-15; Num. 15:32-36), must be imposed. But to this circumstance the contemporary law zealots do not consent. They do not demand that those who do not keep the sabbath be stoned to death, but they persist in demanding that all who believe keep it.

Let us examine the sacred writings under the new covenant to see whether the confident claims of the Judaizers that those in Christ are required to keep the law of Moses be so. Certainly, we know the holy Scriptures to be true—the veritable Word of God. But do they substantiate the declaration of our correspondent in this case? Let us see.

The Law Removed by Christ. "When one accepts Jesus Christ as his Savior he has to accept the sabbath and the law," declares our critic. That is not what the Apostles taught, and they were guided by the Spirit "into all truth" (Jn. 16:13). In fact, it is diametrically opposed to their doctrine as that doctrine was enunciated by Paul. His categorical assertion is that Christ, in His death, "blotted out" the law, "and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross" (Col. 2:14). Again, he declares that our Lord took "away the first" [covenant], that He might "establish the second" (Heb. 10:9; cf. ch. 8:13). And again, "If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law" (Gal. 5:18). "The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ," the Apostle says in another place, "that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster" (ch. 3:24-25; cf. Rom. 10:4). The same writer makes a sweeping declaration concerning circumcision, a Mosaic requirement which was made representative of the entire legal code. "If ye be circumcised," he asserts, "Christ shall profit you nothing" because in that act they would incur the obligation to "do the whole law", which obligation could only result in death, not life (Gal. 5:1-4).

Another statement made by our correspondent is specifically contradicted by Paul. "Without the sabbath, however, no one is really complete yet," it was said. "Ye are complete in Him [Christ]," declares the Apostle, "which is the Head of all principality and power" (Col. 2:10). We are "accepted in the Beloved" by the Father (Eph. 1:6), which Beloved is the Substance, of which the sabbath days" and other Jewish special days were the shadow (Col. 2:16-17). "In the body of His flesh through death," our Lord has presented us to God "holy and unblameable and unreproveable," "without the deeds of the law" (Rom. 3:28; Col. 1:20-23). This is the blessed case, saith the Spirit, "If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel"—not, if ye keep the sabbath and the rest of the law of Moses (v. 23). It is by holding "the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end" that we are "made partakers of Christ," as it is said in another place, not by sabbath-keeping and obedience to other demands of Moses (Heb. 3:12-14; cf. v. 6). 

The Decree of the Jerusalem Council. If it were possible that we should have misunderstood these transparent proclamations of Scripture, certainly the error would have been exposed by the epochal pronouncement of the great Jerusalem council. In this, the only general council of record held by the Apostles, the very point of consideration was the relation of the Mosaic law to Gentile believers. Were they required to keep it? That was the question. The agreement of the Holy Ghost, the Apostles, and the Jerusalem Elders in that conference, after due deliberation, was clearly set forth in a letter to the Gentile churches.

"Forasmuch as we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised and keep the law," it began, it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us" to deliver this decree touching the matter. The decree was that no "greater burden than these necessary things" be laid upon the Gentile subjects of the new covenant. These "things" consisted of four of the law's requirements: "That ye abstain from idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication" (Acts 15:23-29: cf. vv. 19.20).

If sabbath observance were binding under Christ, here certainly was the place to say so. The fact that it was not bound by this council forever precludes the notion that it is bound in heaven (see Matt. 16:19; 18:18). That makes of all who seek to bind it on believers today the same "subverters" of men's souls as were the Judaizers who-went out, without apostolic authority, from the Jerusalem congregation (Acts 15:24).

The Restriction to Jewry. The requirement for sabbath keeping by today's believers is opposed to the genius of the new order under Christ. The fourth commandment of the Ten—"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy!" (Exod. 20:8)—was given to the nation of Israel as it was assembled before Mount Sinai (vv. 8-11). Although there is some indication that the sabbath may have been observed previous to that time, there is no clear-cut evidence of it in Scripture. Undeniably, there is no command of record for such observance. One of the reasons assigned for the imposition on the Jews of sabbath-day observance was to perpetuate the remembrance of their deliverance by God from Egyptian bondage (Deut. 5:12-15). It is specifically declared that it was a sign between God and Israel (Ezek. 20:12, 20).

"It is not expressly said that the deliverance [from Egypt] took place on the sabbath, but such is Jewish tradition on the subject. The reason assigned in Deut. 5:14-15 must be regarded as the main reason". "The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God . . . And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out hence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day." "Man's rest thus was purposely assimilated to God's rest, in order to show the resemblance between man's nature and God's" (cf. Gen. 1:27). Since new-covenant saints have not been delivered from literal Egypt, but from the bondage of sin through Christ, it would be illogical to require them to observe the day especially commemorative of the former liberation.

As a distinct part of the Mosaic law—of the original Ten Commandments—sabbath keeping as a requirement is undeniably done away in Christ, along with the rest of the law as such. It is to be particularly observed that it was never bound upon the church by the Apostles, though all of the other nine demands of the Ten Commandments were in some fashion cited by them and required under the new dispensation. This circumstance completely devastates the claim that sabbath keeping is necessary this side of the cross. Paul specifically forbids the judging of brethren with respect to its observance, or its requirement of them (Col. 2:16; cf. Gal. 4:9-10).

The Greater Day of Observance. In their misled zeal for sabbath keeping the Judaizers reject the greater day of divine sanctification. The Lord's day, or first day of the week—the day on which the blessed Savior rose from the dead—commemorates by far the most significant event for sinful man ever to transpire, not excluding the creation. The exertion of God's power in the resurrection of Jesus is cited by Scripture as the preeminent instance of its display (Eph. l:19-20; cf. Rom: 1:4; 6:4). This was the beginning of the "new creation," which is to abide eternally, and is vastly transcendent in importance to the completion of the natural creation, which is to be "shaken" and removed (Heb. 12:26-28; cf. Isa. 13:13; Hag. 2:6-7), which natural creation is commemorated by the sabbath. Thus, the replacement of the sabbath by the Lord's day under the leadership of the Apostles. See Jn. 20:19, 26; Acts 2:1; 20:7; I Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10.

It is clear that by "consentient apostolic practice" the transition was made from the sabbath to the first day of the week. "The Apostles appear, both by Scripture and by the records of primitive Christian antiquity, to have practically made the change—i.e., they sanctioned the discontinuance of seventh-day observance and they introduced first-day observance in its stead. They regarded the Jewish sabbath as abrogated with the rest of the ceremonial law; and they established by their own authority, and doubtless by the direction of the Holy Ghost, the keeping of 'the Lord's day' by meetings for the Communion, worship, and instruction on that. the first day of the week, instead."

The Liberty to Keep the Sabbath. All this, however, is not to say that observance of the sabbath on an individual basis is forbidden under Christ. It is quite clear that the Jewish believers continued to circumcise their children and otherwise walk "orderly" after the Mosaic requirements, following the Day of Pentecost, which practice no doubt included sabbath keeping (Acts 21:24). It is equally plain that Paul and his companions met with the Jews on the sabbath in order to preach the gospel of Christ to them (Acts 13:14, 42, 44; 16:13; 18:4). As time went on, though, and the new covenant became firmly established, the sabbath day was completely abandoned by the church as the day of assembly. In its place, as we have said, the Lord's day, or first day of the week, was kept for that purpose. In a companion article which we shall publish later, God willing, we shall cite some of the evidence of early church history witnessing to this development, in addition to that herein given in the references from Acts and First Corinthians.

The principle laid down by Paul was that no one was to require of new-covenant saints the observance of Jewish holy days, including the sabbath "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days," he declared. These things, he asserted, are but "a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ" (Col. 2:16-17; cf. Gal. 4:9-10). Since the Holy Ghost has not bound these typical requirements of the Mosaic law upon believers in Christ (Acts 15:10, 19-20, 28-29), it is unlawful for anyone else to do so. It would seem that, under this rule of the Apostle, anyone is at liberty, as an individual, to keep the sabbath, if he so desires. in recognition of God's having "rested from all His works" in creation of the natural order (Gen. 2:2-3; Exod. 20:11). Obviously, however, such a one would be expected to faithfully observe the first day of the week in commemoration of Christ's resurrection, and as an expression of his recognition of the occasion which engendered him as a new and eternal creation (I Pet. 1:3; cf. II Cor. 5:14-17). The principle enunciated in Rom. 14:4-13 would be applicable in such a case: "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind" (v. 5). There is liberty to regard the day "unto the Lord" (v. 6), but judging the brethren for not doing so—that is, demanding that they, too, observe the sabbath—is prohibited, since it has been made clear that sabbath keeping is not binding under Christ.

As saith the Spirit touching such matters, "let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way(Rom 14:13).