JUDGMENTS OF FIRE AND WATER

JUDGMENTS OF FIRE AND WATER

"While the earth remains, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" Gen. 8:22

These words are part of the new covenant which God made with man after the Flood, in that judgment of a corrupt race the order of Nature had been set aside. One whole lunar year had been a year of judgment (compare Gen. 7:11 with Gen. 8:13, 14), and during that time there had been neither seed time nor harvest, nor cold nor heat, nor summer nor winter, nor day nor night, so far as the experience of man and the condition of the earth were concerned. The purpose of that particular judgment being accomplished, God reinstated man in his relationship to the earth, putting him under a new order of life, that of the government of man by man (see Gen. 9:1-6). In doing so He restored, and abidingly confirmed, the natural order. The next judgment of the earth will be its final fire-cleansing (See 2 Peter 3:7 and 12; Psa. 148:8). Until then this order abides. It is important that we remember that this covenant has never failed, and that the continuity and regularity of the seasons is due to the faithfulness of God. Through the ages man has lived by seed time and harvest, by cold and heat, by summer and winter, by day and night; and this because God has been faithful and patient. The sorrows of humanity are all due to man's misuse of these things. If they were properly used under the Divine government, there would be neither pain nor poverty, but perfect human conditions. All earthly blessings flow from these Divine arrangements. All earthly curses result from human misuse of them.

INSTRUMENTS OF JUDGMENT

INSTRUMENTS OF JUDGMENT

"Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" Gen. 6:5

These words give the reason for the Flood. We come at this point in the record of human history, to the first activity of the PUNITIVE JUDGMENT of God. A crisis was reached, which made it necessary, in order to the carrying on of the Divine purpose for humanity, that there should be such action; and in these words the nature of the crisis is revealed. They are very emphatic, and show the utter MORAL DEPRAVITY which prevailed. To read them carefully is to discover that fact. When evil choices and courses have thus wrought themselves out, God always acts in judgment in this way. Over and over again has He done so. We have lived through a period of such Divine activity because of His curse. And so it will continue until the final victory is gained; and evil is completely banished from the earth. Two matters are revealed which are of the greatest importance. 

1st, God never acts in such judgment until it is necessary in order to the fulfilling of His highest purposes for humanity. 

2nd, God always does so act, when it is necessary. 

They are the facts of His PATIENCE and His PERSISTENCE. Evil never escapes Him. He presses upon it, and compels it to go on to the uttermost expression; and that, in order that He may destroy it. The flood, the blood and fire and vapor of smoke, all are the INSTRUMENTS OF HIS JUDGMENT, and are employed in order to the realization of His high ideals for humanity. Nature is under His direction (Psa. 148:8) and reveals constantly that He is still on the throne using what is termed secondary causes.

ALPHA AND OMEGA`

THE ALPHA AND OMEGA

"Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen" Psa. 41:13

The English reader has gained much in the study of the Psalms from the fact that the Revisers have restored the Hebrew divisions of the selection into five Books. There is no doubt that the editing, by whom so always done, was carefully done, and that in each of the five books there is a dominant idea. In each case this idea is revealed in the Doxology with which the Book ends. The editor—possibly and even probably Hezekiah—may have written this Doxology himself. The verse we have taken is the Doxology with which the first Book ends. Kirkpatrick is certainly right when he says: "This doxology is, of course, no part of the Psalm, but stands here to mark the close of Book I." The prevailing Name of God found in this collection is Jehovah. The songs have set forth in varied ways all that this Name meant to the men of faith. Thus the Doxology utters the praise of Jehovah, Who is the God of Israel. It recognizes the all-encompassing sweep of the Divine government and grace in the words: “From everlasting to everlasting." It declares the assent of man to this fact, in the concluding double: "Amen and Amen." The word everlasting in the Hebrew means the vanishing point. The idea is that the God of Israel is Jehovah from the past which is beyond human knowledge, to the future which is equally so. Rotherham's rendering is very fine; "Blessed be Jehovah, God of Israel, from antiquity unto antiquity. Amen and Amen.” To us the great truth is made clearer in the words of Jesus: "I am the ALPHA and the OMEGA." (Rev. 1:8, 11; 21:6; 22:13) In that sense of the eternity of our God, and of the eternity of the things concerning Him unveiled in His Son, is the secret of our songs.

ABOVE AND UNDER THE SUN

THIS IS THE BOOK OF THINGS ABOVE AND UNDER THE SUN

"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; vanity of vanities, all is vanity" Eccles. 1:2

The subtitle of this book found in our translations, "or the Preacher," we owe to Luther, and it is misleading. As Dr. Plumptre has argued at length, and proved conclusively, the more correct rendering of the Hebrew word Koheleth would be "The Debater." This is important, for it at once reminds us that here we have Discussion, rather than Teaching. In these words we have the general proposition of the Debater. Everything he says from here on to 11:8 is in defense of this statement. Then in a paragraph, brief but pregnant (11:9-12), he gives an entirely different view of life, which is a correction of this. Let us, then, at once face this opening declaration. It is an absolutely accurate statement of life when it is lived under certain conditions; but it is not true as a statement of what life must necessarily be. There are thousands of men and women today who cannot, and do not, accept this to be true of life as they find it; it is not vanity, vapor, emptiness, nothingness. To them life in every way is real, rich, full, glorious. It is best, then, that at the beginning we should understand the viewpoint of the Debater. His declaration is that THINGS IN THEMSELVES BRING NO SATISFACTION TO THE SOUL OF MAN. To live on the earth without recognition of the supreme wisdom which begins and continues in the fear of Jehovah, to deal only with that hemisphere which is "under the sun," is indeed to find things of exceeding wonder and beauty and power; but it is to find nothing that satisfies, and to be left at last without any reality, to find only vanity, vapor, emptiness and many end up there.

TRUE AUTHORITY

TRUE AUTHORITY

"I will" Psa. 101:1

The song is attributed to David, and there is no valid reason for questioning that suggestion as to authorship. It is evidently the song of a Ruler, a Prince, a King. In its first movement (vs. 1-4), it records the ruler's decisions concerning himself; in its second (vs. 5-8), it declares his decisions concerning the administration of his Kingdom. It is a Psalm of VOLITION. That is why we have emphasized its first two words. They run through all its stanzas. Trace them. Here is no appeal to others. All the way the singer is exercising HIS WILL. His decisions prove that he is doing so under the inspiration of TRUE INTELLECTUAL APPREHENSION, and pure EMOTIONAL IMPULSE. The important thing is that he is RESPONDING. This is always the matter of principal importance. Moreover, the nature of his decisions and the order of them are INSTRUCTIVE. This king is evidently seeking to act in every way in harmony with the CHARACTER and PURPOSE of the One and only King. He begins with himself. He will bring his own CHARACTER and CONDUCT into conformity with the way and will of Jehovah to Whom he offers his praise. Then he will govern according to the same standards. The persons and things which are unlike God he will not tolerate within his realm. Those persons and things which are in accordance with the will of God, he will cultivate and preserve. This is the true way of authority. THE FLOW BEGINS AT THE TOP WITH TRUE AUTHORITY.

CITY HOUSE AND TEMPLE

CITY HOUSE AND TEMPLE

"I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go unto the House of Jehovah" Psa. 122:1

This is the song of the singer, no longer distanced from the CITY and TEMPLE, but having arrived therein. It is the song of first impressions. These were concerned with the CITY as the place of the TEMPLE. Observe that in this opening stanza, and also in the last, the reference is to the HOUSE of Jehovah. First there is the record of the gladness which came when the invitation, and so the opportunity, came to go to the HOUSE of Jehovah. Finally there is the expression of determination to seek the good of the CITY for the sake of this HOUSE. Approaching the HOUSE, the singer was impressed with the CITY; in its compactness, as the center for the gathering of the tribes; and as the seat of the GOVERNMENT. He then prayed for, and spoke of, the peace and prosperity of the CITY. The song reveals the singer's understanding of the true facts of national life. That CITY was to him the center of that life. The HOUSE of God was the center of that CITY. That HOUSE was highest in importance because it was the HOUSE of Jehovah. Jehovah, the God of Grace, is the One around Whom the people gather. The TEMPLE is the means of grace, the Tent of meeting between man and God. The CITY is the embodiment of the ideals of God for His people, the realization on their part of the order of peace and prosperity which is His Will for them. Whenever the song was written, it was idealistic, for never yet in its history has the CITY of God realized this conception. But that is the glory of the life of faith. Spiritually it enters into the experience of the high purposes of God, even when actual conditions fall far short of those purposes. Moreover, it is by such high confidence that men move forward towards realization actually and materially of what they already apprehend spiritually.

WORSHIP AND WITNESS

WORSHIP AND WITNESS

"Make a joyful noise unto Jehovah, all ye lands" Psa. 100:1

This is the wonderful song which, in metrical version, composed by William Kethe in days of Marian persecution, is known as the Old Hundredth. It is jubilant with confidence for the whole earth, as it contemplates the glory of that earth, when its entire people are submitted to the reign of Jehovah. What a pity, by the way, that so many of our hymn-books render the phrase, "Him serve with mirth," as "Him serve with fear," and thus rob the song of one of its chief notes! The relation of this song to the eight preceding ones is unmistakable, and whenever it was composed, its placing here by the guided editor was surely intentional. The eight Psalms have been those of the City of God, of the Sanctuary within that City, of the people who are its citizens, and the worshipers. Their worship is concluded, and now their witness begins. It is as though the gates of the City, the courts of the Sanctuary, were suddenly thrown open, and all lands are called to serve Jehovah Who in Revelation is revealed to be none other than Jesus Chris, to know that He is God, to enter into relationship with Him. Observe that I have italicized the words which mark the movement of this world-wide ap­peal, serve, know, and enter. The relation between these things is very suggestive. Worship is for God. Witness is for men. The strength of witness is cre­ated in worship. IT IS THOSE WHO KNOW COMMUNION IN THE SANCTUARY WHO ARE ABLE TO CALL MEN TO GOD PREVAILINGLY. It is equally true that THE ULTIMATE VALUE OF WORSHIP IS WITNESS. To praise God for all the wonders of His reign, and to fail to proclaim those wonders to such as dwell in darkness, is almost to blaspheme. The Songs of the Sabbath sung with face lifted toward the throne, and catching the light therefrom, must be sung on all the other days in the highways and byways of human life, with faces irradiated, and so shining upon men. Let us all be His reflectors.