INCOMPREHENSIBLE MADE CLEAR

INCOMPREHENSIBLE MADE CLEAR 

"God, having . . . spoken ... hath . . . spoken" Heb. 1:1, 2

From the introductory sentences of this great writing, we have taken out the principal words. They need, of course, all the qualifying words by which they are surrounded in order to the full understanding of their meaning, but in themselves they reveal the fundamental truths with which the writing deals. The 1st fact is GOD. Without definition, or argument, or apology of any kind, the writer names God. The fact that the writing was for Hebrews shows that he accepted the Hebrew conception of God. All that had been revealed by the names and titles, the Law, the Prophets, and the history, was included. The 2nd fact is that GOD DOES REVEAL HIMSELF. He speaks to men; He makes known His will. These are the foundation truths of our religion. If we are not sure of these, we are sure of nothing. In the process of His dealings with men, He has proved Himself, by REVEALING HIMSELF; and the nature of the revelation has proved it to be of God. Then the statement shows us the INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PAST AND THE PRESENT. He did speak in the past, particularly, progressively, in diverse portions and manners, as men were prepared to receive. He has now SPOKEN FULLY, FINALLY, IN HIS SON; and men will progressively apprehend the meaning of this final speech, but they will never exhaust it. Moreover, the interrelation is part of one whole. Having spoken as He did in the past, it was necessary and possible for Him to speak in His Son. It was necessary, for all that He had said was incom­plete. It was possible, and APART FROM THE FIRST PARTIAL MESSAGES; THE FULL AND FINAL MESSAGE WOULD HAVE BEEN INCOM­PREHENSIBLE. Thus we see the wisdom and perfection of the Divine Revelation.

DENIAL OF GOD’S WRATH TO COME REVEALS GODLESSNESS

DENIAL OF GOD’S WRATH TO COME REVEALS GODLESSNESS 

"I will utterly consume" Zeph. 1:2

Zephaniah exercised his ministry in the days of Josiah. This is an interesting fact, because in his days there was a great reformation, and yet the prophet makes no reference to it. An examination of the history of that reform will show that, so far as the nation was concerned, it was SUPERFICIAL. The king was loyal to God, and sincere. He was also popular with the people, and they followed him in his reforming work, as to external things. But there was NO TRUE REPENTANCE. Therefore Zephaniah did not recognize the reform; and indeed, in all probability the INSINCERITY of it gave greater vehemence to his denunciation of the sin of the people. Taken as a whole this prophecy sets forth the SEVERITY AND GOODNESS of God with overwhelming force; and shows how these apparently contradictory elements of His government move to the same end. The words emphasized give the key note to the prophet's message as to the action of God, consequent upon the sins of the people. This chapter is wholly taken up with THE DAY OF DIVINE WRATH. The outlook was wider than Judah. It began with the declaration that the whole creation, so far as it was polluted, should be destroyed, therefore a need of a new heavens and a new earth (Rev. 21:1). It then dealt with the nation itself, denouncing its sins, and announcing the consuming wrath of God as proceeding against princes, extortioners, the city, the merchantmen, and the luxurious. It is a terrible setting forth of the severity of God against apostasy. There was no hedging, no uncertainty, and no hesitancy, in the prophet's words. They abide for all time, a revelation of the fact that GOD NOT ONLY WILL MAKE NO TERMS WITH SIN, BUT THAT (HE WILL PROCEED AGAINST IT IN FIERY INDIGNATION THAT IT MAY BE UTTERLY CONSUMED. Too many today deny not only God but His indignation.

THE REFILLED CUP

THE REFILLED CUP 

"I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of Jehovah" Psa. 116:13

This song stands distinguished from the previous one by the persistent personal note which runs through it. It is a song of praise for deliverance from great and almost overwhelming griefs. Thus, in the series constituting the Hanel, it is the song of the DELIVERED rather than that in any sense of the DELIVERER. In other words, it can hardly be called Messianic, except as it EXPRESSES THE PRAISE OF ONE EMANCIPATED by Messiah's work. DELIVERED FROM DEATH, FROM TEARS, FROM WEAKNESS, the soul asks: "What shall I render unto Jehovah, for all His benefits toward me?" Here is the answer. The cup of salvation is the CUP OF BLESSING, which is given to the soul. Let the soul take it and drink it, but let him remember that the very partaking is in itself of the nature of a PLEDGE OF LOYALTY; it is the OATH OF ALLEGIANCE in which he calls upon the Name of Jehovah. When the disciples joined in this song, their Lord had already taken a cup from the Passover Board, and given it to them to drink, declaring it to be "My blood of the Covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins." If He, joined them in that song, and it is most probable that He would do so, He sang as the One Who, by entering into all the experience of their desolation, Himself being sinless, was able to FILL THE CUP WITH BLESSING for them. Within a very little while after this singing, He, in Gethsemane, spoke of a cup and, in complete surrender to His Father's will, consented to drink it. That was the cup of sor­rows, of bitterness, of cursing. Having emptied it, HE FILLED IT WITH JOY, WITH SWEETNESS, WITH BLESSING. When we take that cup let us never forget the cost at which He so filled it for us.

ISRAEL CALLED TO BLESS

ISRAEL CALLED TO BLESS  

"I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing" Gen. 12:2

In this chapter we have the beginning of the history of the people through whom God has acted in human history, IN ORDER TO THE REDEMPTION OF THE RACE AND THE RESTORATION OF THE DIVINE ORDER. From this point the Biblical literature is concerned with that people Israel, until of its stock the Deliverer appeared. Then it is concerned with HIM AND THE ELECT RACE resulting from HIS WORK. While this is so, we must never imagine that the nations or the world are excluded from the Divine thought and purpose. The nation ISRAEL is now to be called into being; the One Who, after the flesh, would be of that nation; and the new race created by His work all in the purpose of God, are called into co-operation with Him on BEHALF OF THE WORLD AND OF ALL THE NATIONS, and look at how THEY ALL FIGHT this work of God. The recognition of this fact is fundamental to any correct interpretation of the Biblical Revelation. This is the vital matter in these words spoken to Abram. The last words, "Be thou a blessing," give the reason of the former, "I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee, and make thy name great." IN CALLING ABRAM, God did not reject other men; IN MAKING HIS NAME GREAT, He did not degrade other names; IN BLESSING HIM, He did not hand others over to a curse. When at last this nation have for a season been cast out from privilege and responsibility it was because it had become SELF-CENTERED, and forgotten its high responsibility for the nations of the world. When Israel is RESTORED to its true place, it will be to fulfill that office. The truth abides. The Church also exists in order to be a blessing. For that, she is blessed of God. To forget this, is to fail utterly, and to be cast away as Israel has for a time, but soon to be restored and that through great tribulation.

FEAR THAT KNOWS THE LOVE OF GOD

FEAR THAT KNOWS THE LOVE OF GOD 

"The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge" Prov. 1:7

In these words we have a declaration of the fundamental principle of Hebrew wisdom that is PHILOSOPHY. This book is one of the three Wisdom books in the Old Testament. The others are Job and Ecclesiastes. The first six verses of this chapter reveal the purpose of the book. It was written to TEACH WISDOM and that rather in its APPLICATION TO LIFE, than in theory. It consists of—

(1) A series of addresses on wisdom delivered by a father to his son;

(2) Two collections of Proverbs; and

(3) Two discourses in the realm of Wisdom, one by Agur, the other by Lemuel.

Throughout, the purpose is PRACTICAL, rather than THEORETICAL. Here, after the introduction or preface, and before the series of addresses, the THEORY is stated in one inclusive definition. It is of importance to any studies of this book that this fundamental and inclusive definition should be rightly apprehended; and in order to that, we halt with the word rendered BEGINNING. In the King James Version we find a Marginal alternative suggested, viz., "the principal part," and the English and American revisers marginally suggest "the chief part." Why this reading was relegated to the margin remains a mystery, for there is no doubt that this is the real meaning of the Hebrew word. The other truth emerges later (9:10). The fundamental fact, then, is that in all KNOWLEDGE, all UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE, all INTERPRETATION thereof the fear of Jehovah is the principal thing, the chief part, the central light, apart from which, the mind of man gropes in darkness, and misses the way. Whether in prosperity or adversity, in light or in darkness, in life or in death, in order to intelligent apprehension, and true conduct, there must be THE FEAR OF JEHOVAH, and that fear must be the proper kind of fear (See article FEAR IN THE UNKNOWN GOD-Eccl. 5:7). See also later article on Prov. 9:10. Proper fear knows the love of God (Rom. 5:5). That is the sum total of WISDOM.

FURTHER MEANING OF THE BURIAL AND RESURRECTION

FURTHER MEANING OF THE BURIAL AND RESURRECTION 

"He that is hanged is accursed of God" Deut. 21:23

The reference was to a man who for sin had been put to death, and whose body had been IMPALED (pierced) on a tree or a stake, and thus exposed as a warning to other evil-doers. The command was that such exposure was not to outlast the day. By night the body must be BURIED, and so the whole fact of his sin, now EXPIATED (compensated-atoned) as to human society, put completely away. This parenthetical statement—for such it is—gives the reason for the BURIAL. The man was not accursed of God because he was hanged on a tree. He was hanged on the tree because he was accursed of God. The HANGING was the outward sign of the CURSE upon him, the CURSE OF DEATH FOR SIN. When that curse was accomplished and witnessed, the sign was to cease; then let the man be BURIED, and that BURIAL was the sign that the curse was SUFFICIENT. The understanding of this helps us when the mind travels on in solemn thought to the One Who hung upon the Tree on Calvary. He was there because He was "made sin," and so ACCURSED OF GOD. Such blunt statement gives the soul a shock; but it is the very shock we need, if we are ever to come to anything like a true apprehension of the way of our saving. In His case this law was FULFILLED. He did not remain on the Tree through the night. The curse on sin was ACCEPTED, and WITNESSED; the sin was EXPIATED (compensated-atoned) before God, because the One Who suffered its penalty was SINLESS. His BURIAL was the sign that SIN WAS PUT AWAY. His RESURRECTION was the beginning of a new life for Himself, as REDEEMER; and for us, as REDEEMED.

DIVINE INVESTIGATION & LEADING

DIVINE INVESTIGATION & LEADING

"Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it" Psa. 139:6

In its essential burden, this is the greatest song in literature. What that burden is, is at once revealed if the opening declaration and the closing prayer be brought together: "O Jehovah, Thou hast searched me and known me"; "Search me, O God, and know my heart." Here was a singer who had been brought to a consciousness of GOD'S ABSOLUTELY PERFECT AND FINAL KNOWLEDGE OF HIS LIFE; and who found such satisfaction in the tremendous discovery, that after setting it forth in a song of rare beauty, he could only end by praying for the CONTINUATION OF THAT SEARCHING of his life by God. I have emphasized these words because they are central as a revelation of the discovery which the revelation of God's knowledge of him had brought to this man. When he said, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it," he was not referring to the OMNISCIENCE OF GOD in the abstract, but rather to God's knowledge of himself. It is the highest discovery, through which man escapes from himself to God. The ultimate word of Greek philosophy, "Man, know thyself," was really valuable because it brought man face to face with the IMPOSSIBLE. This is what the Hebrew singer had discovered. He did not know himself, nor could he. But God knew him, with COMPLETE FINALITY. To realize that, is to be driven to yield self-up to the DIVINE INVESTIGATION, in order to be set in the way everlasting. That is a great hour, when the soul realizes its IGNORANCE OF ITSELF, in the light of the Divine knowledge. It is the hour when the way of life is found to be that of DIVINE LEADING.