In Parts I-III
of this series we considered Scriptural evidence for the deity of Christ, some
ancient and modern heresies concerning the deity of Christ, and some specific
Scriptures used to support heretical teachings concerning the deity of Christ.
We now move on to consider the Scriptural evidence for

     The Humanity of Christ.

 In all of the
following ways the Lord Jesus showed He was human:

1. He was
conceived in Mary’s womb:“And the angel said unto her … you shall conceive
in your womb and bring forth a son” (Luke 1:31).

2. He was born
in the usual manner for humans:“Mary [was] great with child. And so it was,
that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be
delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in
swaddling clothes” (Luke 2:5-7). It would be appropriate here to introduce the
theological term, “Incarnation,” which refers to the eternal Son of God taking
on a human form and nature.

3. He was
circumcised:“And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the
child, His name was called Jesus” (Luke 2:21).

4. He grew
physically:“And the child grew … and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature”
(Luke 2:40,52).

5. He advanced
in age:“And when He was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem” (Luke 2:42).
“Then said the Jews unto Him, Thou art not yet 50 years old, and hast Thou seen
Abraham?” (John 8:57).

6. He got
hungry and thirsty:“And when He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He was
afterward hungry” (Matt. 4:2; 21:18). “After this, Jesus … said, I thirst”
(John 19:28).

7. He ate and
drank:“They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb. And He took
it and did eat before them” (Luke 24:43). “When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, He said, It is finished” (John 19:30).

8. He got tired
and slept:“Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the
well” (John 4:6). “And He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a
pillow” (Mark 4:38).

9. He
experienced and expressed human emotions such as (a) affection and sympathy:
“Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how He loved him!” (John 11:35,36); (b)
compassion:“When He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them
because they fainted and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd”
(Matt. 9:36); (c) feeling troubled and in mental agony:“And being in an agony
He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood
falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44; John 12:27); and (d) desiring the
company of others:“And He comes unto the disciples and finds them asleep, and
says unto Peter, What, could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matt. 26:40).

10. He died and
was buried:“Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the
ghost” (Matt. 27:50; Mark 14:37; Luke 23:46; John 19:30,33). “And when Joseph
had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his
own new tomb … and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher”
(Matt. 27:59,60; Mark 15:46,47; Luke 23:53; John 19:38-42).

 To be sure,
there were miraculous elements in all of this. For example, (1) He was
conceived by the Holy Spirit, not by a man (Luke 1:35); (2) He was born of a
virgin (Matt. 1:23); (3) He rose above His physical needs (John 4:31-34); and
(4) He laid down His life by His own power and will (John 10:18). But this
doesn’t take away from His being fully human. Rather it means that He was more
than human—He was God as well.

In addition to
all of this, we have the clear, distinct statement of Scripture that the Lord
Jesus Christ was, and is, Man:“There is one Mediator between God and men, the
Man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).

Human, yet
without sin. “We have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin [or sin apart]” (Heb. 4:15). Jesus was, and is, fully
God and fully man. He is human in every way that you and I are, but with one
exception:He is without sin. The New Testament abounds with testimonies to the
sinlessness of the Man Christ Jesus:He “did no sin, neither was guile found in
His mouth” (1 Pet. 2:22). He challenged the skeptics, “Which of you convinces
[or convicts] Me of sin?” (John 8:46). He passed the severe temptations of
Satan during 40 days of fasting in the wilderness, as well as the agony in the
Garden of Gethsemane, without sinning by asserting His own will or by
disobeying the Word of God (Matt. 4:1-10; 26:39). Others, including Pilate and
the thief on the cross, could not find fault in Him (Luke 23:41; John 18:38).

But could
Jesus have sinned? Practically every student of the Word of God would agree
that the Lord Jesus Christ did not sin during His life here on earth. But a
debate has been going on for centuries as to whether the Lord Jesus could
have sinned. Some teach that just as the first Adam had the capability of
sinning, so the Last Adam, Jesus Christ, in order to be fully Man, had this
same capability.

What does the
Bible say about this? First, not only does it say that Christ “did no sin” (1
Pet. 2:22), but that He “knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21) and “in Him is no sin” (1
John 3:5).

Second, in
several places Christ is called “holy” (Luke 1:35; 4:34; Acts 2:27; 3:14; 4:27;
Heb. 7:26). Holiness supposes the knowledge of good and evil and total
separation from the evil (2 Tim. 2:21). Adam is never referred to as “holy.”

Third, Christ
was and is fully God as well as fully Man. If it were possible for Him to sin,
then it would also be possible for God to sin.

Fourth, some
argue that Christ’s temptation in the wilderness by Satan had no meaning if
Christ was incapable of yielding to that temptation. But that is not a valid
argument. If one tests a bright metal to see if it is gold and it turns out to
be pure gold, was it foolish to do the test in the first place? Just so,
Christ’s temptation by Satan only helped to prove His sinless perfection.

Fifth, in 1
John 3:9 we read, “Whosoever is born of God … cannot sin, because he
is born of God.” If the believer possesses a new, Christ-like nature that
“cannot sin,” then surely Christ Himself, whose nature we possess, could not
sin.

Sixth, we are
taught in the Scriptures that heaven is a holy place (Isa. 6:3; Rev. 4:8), that
all of the results of sin—death, sorrow, crying, and pain—will be a thing of
the past (Rev. 21:4), that nothing sinful or unholy can enter therein (Rev.
21:8,27; 22:15), and that believers in Christ look forward to being “conformed
to the image of [God’s] Son” (Rom. 8:29; 1 John 3:2). So when we are caught up
to heaven, our old, sinful nature will be taken away and all we will have left
is our new, Christ-like nature. At the same time, we will still be human
beings. So the argument that for Christ to be fully human He had to be capable
of sinning like Adam, does not carry any weight. Or else, if Christ Himself and
our new, Christ-like nature will forever be capable of sinning, how can we even
look forward to heaven?

Christ the
Son of Man. This is the title by which Jesus most often referred to
Himself. For example, “Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” (Matt.
16:13). Every man, wom­an, and child born into this world is a son (or
daughter) of man. But none of us would dare refer to ourselves as ”the
son of man.” The Old Testament tells us of one called “the Son of Man” who is
coming to set up an everlasting kingdom over the earth (Dan. 7:13,14). When
Jesus rightfully applied this title to Himself, the Jewish leaders resented it
(see Matt. 26:64). It is an expression of His being fully Man, but in a totally
unique way, that is, being also fully God at the same time.

The doctrine
of the kenosis. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but
made Himself of no reputation [or emptied Himself], and took upon Him the form
of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion
as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross” (Phil. 2:5-8).

“Kenosis” is a
theological term that refers to the self-emptying of the Son of God in coming
down to earth to be “made in the likeness of men.” It comes from the Greek word
kenos meaning “empty.” The Jews in Christ’s day (like many people today)
objected to the idea of a man making himself God:“The Jews answered Him,
saying, For a good work we stone Thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that
Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God” (John 10:33). But they had it all
backward! The Man Christ Jesus wasn’t elevating Himself to be God. Rather, the
eternal Son of God humbled Himself to become a man! He existed from all eternity
“in the form of God” (Phil. 2:5), that is, He was truly, fully God. No created
being could exist in the form of God. Lucifer attempted to elevate himself:“I
will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God … I
will be like the Most High” (Isa. 14:12-14). In so doing he was cast down from
his position of probably the highest, or one of the highest, of all the angels
(see Ezek. 28:12-17). Eve ate the fruit so that she might be elevated to be “as
God [JND], knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5), and we know the far-reaching
consequences of that act of pride. But the eternal Son of God was in the full
enjoyment of this by right. “He thought it not robbery to be equal with God,”
that is, He thought equality with God was not a thing to be held on to at all
costs. He chose voluntarily to leave “the glory which [He] had with [the
Father] before the world was” (John 17:5) to take a place of subjection and
lowliness, and then rejection, reproach, pain, suffering, and the most awful
kind of death imaginable!

Yes, He emptied
Himself—but of what? Not of His deity, surely, nor of His divine attributes; He
could never stop being God. He was ever and always the Son of God and thus
co-equal with God. Of what, then, did He empty Himself? He emptied Himself of
His divine prerogatives, His rights and privileges, we might say, of exercising
His divine attributes such as omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. As a
Man on earth, He often manifested His divine power in the miracles that He
wrought, and His divine omniscience in knowing people’s  thoughts (John
2:24,25; 16:30; 21:17). However, He only drew upon His divine powers when given
permission to do so by the Father. This is why we find the Lord Jesus so often
praying to the Father (Luke 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18; 11:1; 22:32,41,44). When
tempted by the devil to make the stones bread, while He had the divine power to
do so, He did not have the permission of His Father to do so (Matt. 4:4). When
speaking of “the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory” He
intimated that He was dependent upon the Father for knowing all of the
details:“But of that day and that hour knows no man, not the angels which are
in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32).

In summary,
Christ never gave up His personal equality with God, but He gave up His positional
equality with the Father by coming down from that scene of glory and honor. The
hymn writers express it in these ways:“Came from Godhead’s fullest glory down
to Calvary’s depth of woe” (Robert Robinson) and “O what wondrous love and
mercy! Thou didst lay Thy glory by, and for us didst come from heaven as the
Lamb of God to die” (J.G. Deck).

It is often
failure to understand the doctrine of the kenosis that leads people to question
the deity of Christ. They point to verses that speak of His submission to the
Father as evidence that He is lower than the Father. (See also the final
section of Part III of this series concerning the verse, “My Father is greater
than I.”)

The doctrine of
the kenosis is not merely a statement of theology. It is given to Christians as
a challenge:“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil.
2:5). The hymn-writer expresses it so pointedly:“When we survey the wondrous
cross on which the Lord of glory died, our richest gain we count but loss, and
pour contempt on all our pride” (Isaac Watts).

Why did the
Son of God become a Man? At the risk of being a bit repetitive, here are a
few of the reasons:

1. He came to reveal
God to man and help man to communicate with God (1 Tim. 2:5).

2. He came to
provide a sacrifice for man’s sin by dying on the cross (Matt. 1:21; Heb.
9:26). (He could not have represented us on the cross if He had not been fully
human.)

3. As a Man He
experienced trials and troubles so that He might be able fully to understand
us, sympathize with us, and help us (Heb. 2:17,18; 4:15,16).

4. He came to
be an example for those who believe in Him and follow Him (John 13:15; Phil. 2:5;
1 Pet. 2:21).

What is the
difference between a theophany and the Incarnation? A theophany (meaning,
“appearance of God”) is a manifestation of God in visible and bodily form
before the Incarnation. Sometimes the theophany is spoken of as “the LORD” (Gen.
18:1-15), sometimes as “the angel of the LORD” (Judg. 13:3-23), and sometimes
as “a man” (Gen. 32:24-30). These theophanies are usually considered to be the
Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son in visible form. The difference
between a theophany and the Incarnation is that a theophany had the appearance
of a man but was not truly human, whereas in the Incarnation, the Son of God
became truly human while remaining truly God.

The theophany
was abrupt and temporary. God appeared to different people at different times
for specific purposes. When the purpose was accomplished, the theophany
disappeared until the next time. There was no organic link between the
appearances.

In contrast,
the Incarnation began with a conception (not an ordinary conception, to be
sure) in the body of a human mother. Christ was born a human infant in the
normal process of childbirth. (There is no Scriptural basis for the medieval
idea that Christ was born in some miraculous way so that Mary’s physical
virginity remained intact and she experienced no pain.) Christ had a real
genealogy with real people in it. Had He abruptly appeared as a full-grown man
in the manner of the theophanies, His true humanity could have been questioned
along with His ability to be the Mediator between God and man and the High
Priest who was tried in all ways as His people were. Only as a true descendant
of Adam, Abraham, and David could He be the Last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), the seed
of Abraham through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen.
22:18; Gal. 3:16), and the Son of David who would occupy the throne of David
forever (Matt. 21:9; 22:42; Rev. 22:16).

In the next
issue, Lord willing, we shall consider some of the heresies, past and present,
relating to the humanity of Christ.

We will be
blessed, I believe, by considering Christ as “The Carpenter.” His work is so
far superior to all other carpenters in greatness, quality, and quantity that
this title, “THE Carpenter,” is indeed His alone. Each thing He has made brings
glory to Him and shows us something of His wisdom, power, and knowledge.

The question,
“Is not this the Carpenter?” was asked out of astonishment upon hearing His
teaching and seeing His miracles (Mark 6:1-6). They thought He was out of His
place to be teaching instead of being at the carpenter bench. But was He not
building through His teaching? His words, if believed, cause the person to be
made into a new creature. Was He not building by doing miracles? This was
repair work, which a carpenter does at times, in healing the sick and raising
the dead, as exhibited in the previous chapter, Mark 5.

We may well be
astonished and be in awe as we think of this Carpenter who came into this world
His hands had made. They ask in Mark 6, “What wisdom is this which is given
unto Him, that even such mighty works are wrought by His hands?” Those
wonderful hands did their greatest work when they were nailed to the cross of
Calvary. And there He did the work He came into this world to do—to save
sinners. For all eternity we will marvel and praise Him for that work. He
defeated the world, sin, and Satan and satisfied a holy God about our sins.
From that cross He cried, “It is finished.” Nothing can be added to that work
and any who try to do something to save themselves are saying that His work was
not good enough. How serious such a charge is to Him who “has done all things
well!” God was satisfied with His work and raised Him from the dead and seated
Him at His own right hand in heaven. If God is satisfied, we should be too.

We read that
those who asked the question that day, “Is not this the Carpenter?” were
“offended at Him.” They would not own Him to be more than a mere man. But He is
THE Carpenter, the Creator. For “all things were made by Him, and without Him
was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). In creating, He did what no
mere human can do—He made from nothing. It is by faith we understand this,
“that the things that are seen were not made of things that do appear” (Heb.
11:3).

His first act
of creation was angels, it appears, for we are told they shouted for joy at the
creation of the world (Job 38:7). Then in Genesis 1 we have three creative
acts:the creation of matter in verse 1, the creation of the soul in verse 20,
and the creation of the spirit of man in verse 27. It is man’s spirit that
makes him in the image of God, for “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24). Man is made
of all three—body, soul, and spirit. Man’s soul is different from an animal’s
for it is never dying:“For God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life
and he became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7).

Isaiah 45:18
tells us that God created the earth not in vain but to be inhabited. But we
find in verse 2 of our Bibles, after the original creation of verse 1, that the
earth became “without form and void.” So the Carpenter went to work and in six
days remade the earth for the good of man. This remaking is a beautiful picture
of what He does in saving a precious soul from perishing. The Spirit of God
moves and gives light to the soul. Then fruit is brought forth in the life.

Another thing
God made was woman out of a rib in Adam’s side. A deep sleep had to fall on him
for her to be made. So Christ died so that His bride and wife—the Church—could be
made. The Lord Himself declared, “I will build My Church” upon the solid rock
foundation of His own name—“the Christ” (Matt. 16:16-18). To do this He “gave
Himself for it” (Eph. 5:25). Each soul who believes on Him is added to His
Church (Acts 2:47). It is called His “body,” for it displays His every
attribute and is controlled by Him who is the Head of the Church (Eph. 1:22).
It is called “the house of God” for His order and care are manifest there. And
it is called His temple, for praise issues forth from it. Think of the
thousands upon thousands who have been saved since the day of Pentecost, when
the Church was formed, who are part of the Church. Each one also, in Himself,
is a special creation to do good works (Eph. 2:10). And each one is specially designed
with gifts to function as a part of the Church for the good of all. Some day
soon all will be displayed to be “admired” as we show Christ to the world (2
Thess. 1:10).

View
the vast building, see it rise;

The
work how great! The plan how wise!

O
wondrous fabric! Power unknown!

That
rears it on the “Living Stone.”

Very soon the
last stone will be put into that building. Then He will call us home to that
place He has gone to prepare for us. At the cross He began the preparations for
that place and now from the glory He continues to prepare that place for us
(John 14:1-3). He also is now teaching those who are saved through His Word in
the power of the Spirit of God and thus preparing us for those many mansions of
the Father’s house. When He takes us there, the Carpenter will again work. For
He will change our physical bodies to be like Christ’s own resurrected and
glorified body (Phil. 3:21). That body walked through closed doors and ascended
into heaven, and so will we in our bodies fit for glory.

Dear reader,
are you made fit for glory or are you yet perishing in your sins? God made you
in His image so that you could be in His presence. But like Adam, you have
sinned and only through Christ can you be part of that new creation through
faith in His work on the cross. We urge you to avail yourself of that work by
trusting yourself to Him.

Do not be like
those who “were offended at Him.” This is the result of not believing on Him
and not owning Him to be the Lord of all. He owns all He has made by right.
Only man and the fallen angels will not give Him that place as Lord. How
foolish, for some day soon every knee will bow to Him (Phil. 2:10). Is it any
wonder that the Lord Himself “marveled because of their unbelief” (Mark 6:6)?
His creative works alone will make men without excuse (Rom. 1:20). Why spurn
such love offered to you in your need? Bow your knee now and the Carpenter will
make you a “new creature” (2 Cor. 5:17). Also, you will have “a house …
eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1); there you forever will adore “The
Carpenter” and His wonderful works.

(From Scripture
Almanac, 1988.)

“Blessed is the
man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of
sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of
the LORD; and in His law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a
tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season;
his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper” (Psa.
1:1-3).

“Jesus stood
and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He who
believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water” (John 7:38).

As to the
connection between these two passages, I think that Psalm 1 is a delineation of
the character, walk, and fruitfulness of the Lord Himself, the Man of God’s
delight. He never walked in the counsels of the ungodly, etc., but His delight
was in the law of the Lord. In Him God saw—and sets before us for our
imitation—a Man whose delight it was to do His will as revealed in His Word.
Hence His fruitfulness, for the secret and power of fruitfulness is subjection
to God (John 15:4,5).

Psalm 1
presents the Son of Man as the tree planted by the river of water, that is, in
constant, unbroken communion with God, whose leaf does not wither, and who
brings forth His fruit in season.

Everything in
the Lord Jesus delighted God. He said the right thing at the right time and in
the right place. God says to us, “See the Man who always pleases Me; and see how
He does it. He knows how and when to speak, how and when to be silent, even
though He Himself is defamed. He knows what to do and what not to do, when to
go and when not to go, what to say and what not to say. He is neither an
enthusiast nor a mere reasoner, neither elated by acclamations of praise nor
dejected by the scorn and contempt of those who felt His majesty and their own
inferiority. He is superior to the world, to man, to Satan; and without sin,
His branches are richly loaded with the fruit in which God delights. This is the
Man whose strength and sufficiency are in God, and in whom God delights.
But in all this strength and majesty, this rich fruitfulness in living
connection with its source for man (that is, God), He stood alone. He could
drink to the full from the fountain of all joy and strength, and through Him
indeed came blessing to others. Still He was pent up, straightened, because He
had a baptism with which to be baptized. Yet so fixed was His purpose to do the
will of Him who sent Him and to finish His work, that He could anticipate that
work in its blessed results to others. So He stood up in the last great day of
the feast (strange feast where there were those who were thirsty!), in which
there was indeed the outward form of approach to the source of blessing and refreshment,
but no real approach. And He cried, “If any man thirst, let him come
unto Me and drink.” If I mistake not, it is the only occasion (besides that on
the cross) in which He cried, as if the vehemence of His desire to impart
blessing to the spiritually needy was only equaled by the intensity of His
suffering on the cross.

“He who
believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water.” I think the allusion here is to Isa. 32:2, “A Man shall be
… as rivers of water in a dry place,” along with Isa. 44:3, “I will pour
water upon him who is thirsty … I will pour My Spirit upon your seed.” In
Psalm 1 we have more the effect of the river on the fruitfulness of the Tree.
It is planted by the water that nourishes it. In John 7 it is the waters that
are to flow out unchecked. Christ was fruitful there, but who else? The rivers
of living water flowing out of the belly is what God does in grace for man and
through man. It never existed before the exaltation of Christ. “This spake He
of the Spirit, which they who believe on Him should receive; for the Holy
Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified” (John
7:39). It had never been before. It was God opening up all the floodgates of
blessing through the obedient, humbled, and now exalted Man to all those who
believe. He says, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink,” and he
shall not only have what he needs for himself, but shall become a channel of
richest blessing to others.

(From Help
and Food, Vol. 5.)

The September
11 terrorist attacks on America continue to weigh heavily on the minds of most
Americans. How wonderful it is for those who have been saved by the blood of
Christ that we can face tragic events like these with the knowledge that our
eternal future is secure in our Father’s hands (John 10:29)!

Many people are
asking questions such as “Where was God in all of this?” “Why did He allow it
to happen?” “Can any good come out of all this?” While wrestling with such
questions, my thinking has taken me down several different roads. All of the
articles in this issue relate to our attempts to learn God’s lessons for us
from the terrorist attacks.

1. Perhaps God
has allowed the attacks on America to reflect back to us our own attitudes and
behavior. These ideas are explored in “Reflections from the Towers.”

2. A parallel
might be drawn between Osama bin Laden, the presumed mastermind behind the
terrorist attacks, and the ancient Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Three times
the LORD referred to Nebuchadnezzar as “My servant” (Jer. 25:4-9; 27:4-7;
43:8-13).  The LORD used this godless, God-hating (Dan. 3:14-20) monarch to
bring the nation of Israel to its knees (2 Ki. 24,25; 2 Chron. 36).  When that
work was complete, God brought Nebuchadnezzar himself to his knees (Dan. 4:32).
Is it possible that bin Laden, who has no love for the God of Christians, has
been raised up by God to be His “servant” to scourge a nation that is
increasingly turning away from their God and His Son Jesus Christ? If this is
so, then we surely can count upon the Lord Himself to bring bin Laden down …
but not until He has first brought America to its knees. Two articles help us
to learn more about King Nebuchadnezzar.

3. The lesson
Jesus gave to the people concerning the collapse of a tower in Siloam may apply
as well to the collapse of the towers in New York City. The enclosed gospel
tract, “The Twin Towers,” examines this connection.

4. A Christian
woman recently asked my wife and me how the events of September 11 tied in with
biblical prophecies concerning the end times. Her particular reason for asking
this question was to find out whether she should quit her job and spend the
rest of her days until the Lord’s coming ministering the gospel to the unsaved.
Isn’t that neat? Would that we all had such a love for souls! Actually,
Scripture does not give us any specific events—wars or otherwise—that help us
to predict when the rapture (that is, the Lord’s coming for His people) will
occur. The article, “The Second Coming of Christ,” discusses this point. Any
decision as to giving up our regular employment in order to devote our lives to
the gospel should be made, not with respect to events around us, but with the
firm conviction that it is the Lord who is calling us to do so.
Meanwhile, all believers are called upon to “do the work of an evangelist” (2
Tim. 4:5); there is much that we can do during our coffee breaks, lunch hours,
evenings, weekends, and retirement years for the Lord. Let us redeem the time (Eph.
5:16).

5. If we were
called upon to give counsel to the families of the victims, what would we say?
“Counseling the Grieving and Hurting” makes a few suggestions.

6. The recent
events serve as a poignant reminder of the brevity of life and the suddenness
of death. The following hymn expresses it well:

Life at best is very brief,

Like the falling of a leaf,

Life the binding of a sheaf,

Be in time.

Fleeting days are telling fast

That the die will soon be cast,

And the fatal line be passed,

Be in time.

Time is gliding swiftly by,

Death and judgment draweth nigh,

To the arms of Jesus fly,

Be in time.

Oh, I pray you count the cost,

Ere the fatal line be crossed,

And your soul in hell be lost,

Be in time.

May the Lord
help each of us as we talk to others about these tragic events and what they
may mean.  May we be given wisdom from above to provide answers from the Bible
to peoples’ questions.

Let us
reverently consider the lowliness of the Son of God in self-abasement and
perfection of obedience to God when here as a Man among men. While Adam’s first
act, after being surrounded here with blessing, was to seek his own will,
involving his posterity in ruin and misery, Christ came into this world of
misery devoting Himself in love to do His Father’s will.

Coming down
here, the Son of God emptied Himself of all that was His by right. He came here
in devotedness to His Father, at all cost to Himself, that God might be
glorified. He was in the world, the obedient man, whose will was to do His
Father’s will and bring glory to God. It is impossible to read John’s Gospel,
or indeed any of the Gospels, without meeting at every moment this blessed
fragrance of loving obedience and self-renunciation. The wickedness of man all
around Him only gave force and blessedness to the self-abasement which never
faltered. The “I AM” who was here in perfectness of human obedience.

This is
revealed everywhere. Replying to the devil He answers, “It is written, Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth
of God” (Matt. 4:4). “It is written” was His constant reply. “Suffer it to be
so now,” He says to John the Baptist, “Thus it becomes us to fulfill all
righteousness” (Matt. 3:15). To Peter He said, with regard to the question
about paying tribute, “Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we
should offend them … take, and give unto them for Me and you” (Matt. 17:24-27).
In John’s Gospel we read, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees
the Father do” (5:19). “As the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do”
(14:31). “I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (15:10).
Oh, humble, lowly Man! God’s beloved Son, in whom the Father found His delight!

All that was
pure, separate, and lovely in human nature was found in Jesus. There was no
unevenness in Him, no predominant quality to produce the effect of giving Him a
distinctive character. He was, though despised and rejected of men, the
perfection of human nature. The sensibilities, firmness, elevation, and calm
meekness that belong to human nature all found their perfect place in Him. In a
Paul we find energy and zeal; in a Peter, impetuousness and ardent affection;
in a John, tender sensibilities united with a desire to vindicate the One He
loved. But the qualities that we observe in Peter predominate and characterize
him (Matt. 16:22; 17:3; John 18:10,11). In a Paul, blessed servant though he
was, he tries to go into Bithynia but the Spirit does not let him (Acts 16:7).
He has no rest in his spirit when he does not find Titus, his brother, and goes
off to Macedonia, though a door was opened in Troas (2 Cor. 2:12,13). John, who
would have vindicated Jesus in His zeal, knew not what manner of spirit He was
of, and would have forbidden the work of God if a man walked not with them
(Luke 9:49-56). Such were Paul and Peter and John.

But in Jesus,
even as Man, there was none of this unevenness. There was nothing prominent in
His character because all was in perfect subjection to God in His humanity; all
had its place and did exactly its service, then disappeared. God was glorified
in it and all was in harmony. When meekness became Him, He was meek; when
indignation, who could stand before His overwhelming rebuke! He was gracious,
merciful and longsuffering to the chief of sinners (1 Tim. 2:13-16), but
unmoved by the heartless haughtiness of the cold Pharisee who was curious to
judge who He was (Luke 7:36-50). On the cross He was tender to His mother:in
human care He entrusted her to one who learned on His bosom; but He had no ear
to recognize her word or claim when His service occupied Him for God (Matt.
12:46-50). What calmness which disconcerted His adversaries! What moral power
which dismayed them at times! What meekness which drew out the hearts of all
not steeled by willful opposition! What keenness of spirit to separate between
the evil and the good!

In a word,
then, the humanity of Christ was perfect—all subject to God, all in immediate
answer to His will. “Praise His name!”

(From Help
and Food, Vol. 38.)

“With the
merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful; with an upright man Thou wilt show
Thyself upright … and with the froward Thou wilt show Thyself froward” (Psa.
18:25,26). This is one of the verses that came to mind in the wake of the
recent terrorist attacks upon the World Trade Center towers and elsewhere in
America. It tells us that God at times reflects back to us—both as individuals
and as a nation—our attitudes and behavior. Haven’t we all experienced it? If
we drive courteously or are helpful to other people, we find other drivers
being courteous to us and other people being helpful to us. If we cheat other
people, we find other people cheating us.

God’s
reflecting mirror is also seen in Psa. 109:17; Isa. 33:1; Matt. 5:7; Rev.
13:10; and 16:6.

We surely do
not condone the violent and murderous actions of the terrorists; the leaders
must be found and brought to justice. However, I cannot help but wonder if God
has permitted this violence against America in order to reflect back to us the
violence we Americans have been legally and approvingly inflicting upon our
fellow Americans in recent decades. Physical violence has been brought upon
millions of unborn babies; this is legal and widely accepted. Emotional
violence has been brought upon millions of children and teenagers when Dads and
Moms decide they do not love their life partners anymore, are not willing to
make the personal sacrifices stated in their wedding vows, and divorce one
another; this is legal and widely accepted. Moral violence is being brought
unremittingly by the entertainment industry upon citizens young and old; our
nation’s moral values are twisted to the point where we “call evil good, and
good evil” (Isa. 5:20); this too is legal and widely accepted and defended.

Very
appropriately, there was national mourning for the thousands who died when the
twin towers were destroyed. But don’t we kind of shrug our shoulders when we
read of the victims of 17,000 murders, 16,000 drunk driving fatalities, 90,000
rapes, and over a million other violent crimes committed in America each year?
An estimated 20 percent of adult Americans were victims of sexual abuse as
children. Well over a million American women annually are beaten—severely
enough to receive police and medical attention—by their husbands, ex-husbands,
or lovers, and some 3,000 die as a result. (Physical abuse of husbands by wives
is less common, but still substantial.) Sadly, this is not at all a phenomenon
confined to non-Christians and alcoholics. A study has shown that physical
battering of wives occurs in about four percent of Christian families. Does our
outrage toward the perpetrators of these acts of violence approach that which
we have toward the terrorists who have attacked America?

Let us bring it
even closer to home to us who are God’s children:Every time we lose our temper
(Jas. 1:19; Eph. 4:31), make a false accusation against our brother (Exod.
20:16), spread an evil—even if true—report about another person (Rom. 1:29;
Jas. 5:20; 1 Pet. 4:8), fight with our siblings over an inheritance (Luke
12:13-15), or call a person a bad name (Matt. 5:22), we are acting violently
against our fellow men. The Lord Jesus equated some of these behaviors to
murder when He said, “You have heard that it was said by them of old time, You
shall not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment;
but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause
[most often the case] shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall
say to his brother, Raca [or worthless], shall be in danger of the council; but
whosoever shall say, You fool [or moron], shall be in danger of hell fire”
(Matt. 5:21,22).

Yes indeed, the
leaders of the terrorists must be found and brought to justice. But at the same
time, may we all—both as individuals and as a nation—do some serious
soul-searching about our own little acts of violence and attacks upon America.

“Search me, O
God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any
wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psa. 139:23,24).

“But we all,
with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into
the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” 2 Cor.
3:18).

God’s thought
is to have a people on this earth walking in the steps of His own Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is now in the heavens. If God is seeking to have a people who
are heavenly in their practices, ways, walk, character, and relationships, then
we cannot possibly go on with the world. When I read in the Scriptures of God’s
beloved Son cast out of this earth, rejected, refused, despised, and spit upon,
and then see the glory of God put in the face of that blessed Man up there, I
have no question whatever about the character of the ministry that God has for
me here on earth. The very rejection of Christ upon the earth and the very
glory of Christ in the heavens opens my heart to all the liberty that is up
there, but equally shuts me up to the narrowness of His path down here. Do we
really want to be governed in our ways by the thoughts of God? May He give you
and me a firmer grasp in our conscience as to the relationship that is ours
with the glorified Man in heaven! His purpose is to find down here on this
earth a people who live after the fashion of that blessed One who is in glory.

“We all, with
unveiled face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord” is in contrast
with Moses who had his face covered that the children of Israel could not look
upon it. You will recall that Moses went up to the mount to receive the tables
of testimony, and when he came down the second time his face shone. The shining
of Moses’ face as he came down was the reflection of the condemning power of
that law which man could not stand, and therefore he covered his face when he
came out to man. Man could not look at him because every ray that shone from
that face made a demand upon man which he could not meet. But here is a more
brilliant glory:a glory that shines, not from the face of a poor weak man like
Moses, but the whole glory of God itself shining forth in the face of His own
Son. Is not that a wonderful thing, that you and I are positively capable of
looking at the radiancy of the glory of God as it streams from that blessed
face? Capable of gazing at it! Why? Because we have received righteousness
instead of condemnation, and the Holy Spirit in us instead of our being in
bondage; and every ray of glory that shines from that blessed face in the
heavens is the reflection to our soul of the completeness, sufficiency, and
fullness of His finished work.

But there is
more than this. As I look at that glory it has a formative power in me.
What we all need is to be long enough in the presence of that blessed,
glorified Christ to catch the features of that Christ, and so have Him engraved
upon the “fleshly tables of the heart” (2 Cor. 3:3). It is not an effort.
You might try to be like Christ in glory until you are worn out trying, and you
would not catch one feature of His. The very fact of your striving proves your
inability. But what is it? It is a thing that nobody can explain. I do not
believe you can ever convey to another what it is to sit engrossed with that
blessed One who is there in glory. Who could explain it? It is impossible to
describe it, and yet it is a reality that the person who sits in the
company and presence of the glorified Christ contracts moral likeness to Him.

Where did Moses
get the glory that was streaming from his face? He was alone with God in the
mount, and the glory, though it was connected with the ministry of
condemnation, was reflected upon his face when he went down. You and I, with
unveiled face no veil either on us or on that blessed One up there (for I think
the passage will bear the thought of that), everything is open, unveiled; so as
we by faith look at that blessed One, He is engraved on our hearts by the
Spirit, and when we come down there is the reflection upon us.

You know
perfectly well what it is to meet a person who gives your heart the sense that
he has been with Christ. But how seldom is it the case! Sadly, we leave so much
the impress of ourselves upon them, instead of Christ. What we should
long for is to be just like clay in the hands of the potter, absolutely
passive, so that the potter might leave the mark of His own beautiful hands
upon us. (Ed. note:No doubt the author means “passive” in the sense of a
moving wheel that is propelled by the power of the engine and directed by the
hands on the steering wheel rather than in the sense of one lying in bed
asleep.) How wonderful it would be for us, as we move through these scenes of
sorrow, difficulty, trial, and temptation, and sin, to be distinguished not so
much by what we say and do as by the way the Potter’s hand governs us, controls
us, guides us. That is the meaning of 2 Cor. 3:18.

It is a
wonderful thing that God should take such a thing as clay in which to reflect
His glory. Instead of demanding or seeking for anything from us, it brings to
us from the heavens the thing we could not give, and besides that, it
transforms us into the image and likeness of Christ as we are sufficiently like
clay in His hands.

Now, may I ask
you affectionately—and I do not want to make anybody depressed—how much of your
time do you really sit down in the Lord’s presence? How much time and leisure
have you, not merely from the business of this world, but even supposing your
service is for the Lord:how much time have you for this that I am speaking of?
Do you not know that in order for there to be great outgoings there must be
great incomings? There will be no out shining if there is no in shining. We
need to take time out from the things without and within to sit down in the
solitude of the presence of that blessed, holy, glorious Man who is in heaven,
finding our delight in Him for His own sake.

Someone once
said to me, speaking of another, “I like to be in the company of So-and-so.” I
replied, “Why?” The answer was, “Because he always reminds me of a third
person.” “Who is that?” “The blessed One in glory.” Oh, what a blessed thing it
is to walk through this world, and as we meet each other in our business, our
households, our domestic relationships, to remind each other of that One in
glory, to have the fullness of that Christ in measure reproduced in poor,
wretched creatures like you and me! It is a most blessed thing—the most
marvelous ministry that could be conceived!

How little our
hearts are really up to God’s wonderful purpose in giving such a ministry as
this from those opened heavens! How little affection there is in our hearts to
enter into the purpose of God and into His thought, that, in a world that
rejected His Son, cast Him out, despised Him, nailed Him to the cross, there
should be those who are the expression and manifestation of that blessed,
wonderful One whom the world rejected, but whom God glorified. Do your hearts
desire that? Is that what you long for? Is that your purpose and object? God
will help you if you have such purpose of heart.

Suppose I see
one turning his back upon everything in this world, who looks for nothing in
it, who has no interests here, who does not expect anything, and would not take
anything from the world. I say, “What surpassing power is displayed in that
man!” If I see a poor, feeble creature lying on a bed of sickness, racked with
pain, the poor body pressed down with disease morning, noon, and night, and one
who might be tempted to say, “What good am I, a trial to everyone about me and
a burden to myself?” Yet if I see, amid all the weariness and pain,
satisfaction and quietness instead of complaint, and instead of quickness of
temper, the blessed manifestation of Christ in meekness and endurance, I say,
“What surpassing power is there!”

That is what
this ministry is able to do, beloved friends, and that is God’s thought about
us in relation to it. This is the testimony that is really lacking at this
moment. Every one has heard us speak of doctrines, and we are supposed
to be clear about them. But other people do not understand these doctrines
because they fail to see anything that corresponds to them in our lives! Oh,
for the manifestation of the truth, the exhibition of Christ that would stop
the mouth of the rejecter and commend itself to the consciences of men! “By
manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in
the sight of God” (2 Cor. 4:2). Oh, may our hearts prize more than ever this
blessed ministry, characterized as it is by such glories as we have had before
us!

(From
“Surpassing Glory and Surpassing Power” in Christ:His People’s Portion and
Object.)

“The LORD has
sent unto you all His servants the prophets … but you have not hearkened, nor
inclined your ear to hear. They said, Turn again now every one from his evil
way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has
given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever; and go not after other
gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke Me not to anger with the
works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt. Yet you have not hearkened unto
me, says the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, Because you have not
heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,
says the LORD, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will
bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against
all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them…. Moreover I
will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of
the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and
the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an
astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years. And
it shall come to pass, when 70 years are accomplished, that I will punish the
king of Babylon and that nation, says the LORD, for their iniquity” (Jer.
25:4-12).

The prophet
addresses himself to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, not to the rulers as
such. For 23 years he had exercised his office among them, declaring the word
of the LORD. Since the 13th year of Josiah, when the reforms were going on, to
the present, when idolatry prevailed everywhere, he had spoken unto them,
“rising early and speaking,” but they would not hearken. Other servants and
prophets had preceded him, but to them likewise they had turned a deaf ear. The
messages of all had been in a great measure alike. They said, “Turn again now
every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings … and I will do
you no hurt.” But there had been no response nor sign of repentance that He
might not be provoked to anger.

Because the
people had refused to hearken, the northern army led by Nebuchadnezzar, whom
the LORD calls “My servant,” should be brought against them and the nations
round about them who had seduced them into their idolatrous practices. All joy
and gladness, as well as all that told of a people pursuing the ordinary
avocations of life, should cease, and the whole land should become a
desolation. It was not to be forever, however, but “these nations shall serve
the king of Babylon 70 years.”

This period is
a most significant one. When the children of Israel were about to enter the
promised land, the LORD told them that every seventh year was to be a sabbath
in which the ground was to lie fallow. Here is the commandment:“Speak unto the
children of Israel and say unto them, When you come into the land which I give
you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD. Six years you shall sow
your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in the
fruit thereof. But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the
land, a sabbath for the LORD:you shall neither sow your field, nor prune your
vineyard. That which grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap,
neither gather the grapes of your vine undressed:for it is a year of rest unto
the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for you, and for
your servant, and for your maid, and for your hired servant, and for your
stranger that sojourns with you, and for your cattle, and for the beast that
are in your land, shall all the increase thereof be meat” (Lev. 25:2-7).

A promise of
assured prosperity, if observed, was also given, for we read, “And if you shall
say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather
in our increase, then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year,
and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. And you shall sow the eighth
year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in
you shall eat of the old store” (Lev. 25:20-22). Thus there would be no
lack, but an abundant supply, if they kept the year of rest and gave the land
its sabbath, in this way acknowledging their divine ownership and themselves
Jehovah’s servants.

Not only did He
promise blessing if His Word was obeyed, but through Moses He solemnly warned
them of judgment if they failed to give ear to His commandments. If they walked
contrary to Him, He would walk contrary to them; and He declared, “I will
scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you:and your
land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her
sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, and you be in your enemies’ land …
because it did not rest in your sabbaths when you dwelt upon it (Lev.
26:33-35). And in verse 43 of the same chapter He says, “The land also shall be
left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lies desolate without
them; and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity because …
they despised My judgments, and because their soul abhorred My statutes.”

Selfish Judah,
doubtless, reasoned that time would be gained and wealth more rapidly
accumulated if the year of rest were allowed to pass unobserved. They had to
learn the truth of the words, “Those who honor Me I will honor, and those who
despise Me shall be lightly esteemed” (1 Sam. 2:30). So it has been with many
self-seeking children of God ever since. Time spent in waiting upon Him has
been esteemed as time lost. Many are too busy to give Him His portion.
Business, pleasure, everything that begins and ends with self, in short, must
come first, leaving little or no time for Him. But He invariably balances things
at last. Many a saint has spent long, weary months and years on a bed of
languishing, for the simple reason that the things of God were crowded out and
neglected in days of health and vigor. Yet, blessed be His name, as in the case
of His earthly people, the days of captivity have been made to become days of
great fruitfulness. It was in their subjection to the Babylonian yoke that
Judah learned to abhor idols. Never has the nation offended on that ground
since. The seasons of the Lord’s chastening are not lost time. Afterward they
yield “the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised thereby”
(Heb. 12:11).

The discipline
over and the lost sabbatical years made up, the nation of Judah was to be
permitted to return to their land “When 70 years are accomplished, I will
punish the king of Babylon and that nation, says the LORD, for their iniquity”
(Jer. 25:12). The overthrow of Babylon would be the signal that Israel’s
redemption had drawn nigh. Daniel, it will be remembered, was a student of the
writings of the former prophets, and it is recorded that he “understood by
books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the
prophet, that He would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem”
(Dan. 9:2). He had God’s sure word, and he knew that he could rely on it.
Jeremiah but spoke the words that, by the inspiration of the Almighty, had been
given him.

It is
noticeable that Babylon, having been permitted to destroy Jerusalem, and having
been the instrument of Jehovah’s discipline, should in her turn be utterly
destroyed for her manifold abominations. “Judgment must begin at the house of
God” (1 Pet. 4:17). However, the nations will not escape. Jer. 25:15-26 gives a
list in detail of the various peoples to whose lips the wine cup of Jehovah’s
fury must be pressed. “If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the
ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Pet. 4:18). How the nations were made to
drink and to fall before the might of Jehovah has been for long ages a matter
of authentic history.

(From Notes
on Jeremiah, Loizeaux, Neptune, NJ; used by permission.)

It is needful
in all considerations of the truth of the Person of the Son of God to remember
that no one but the Father has full knowledge of Him. This is true whether we
speak of His deity or His humanity. Only the Father knows the full perfections
of what He is in His essential nature as one of the Godhead, and He only fully
understands the absolute perfection of the manhood He was pleased to assume. On
all questions concerning the Person of the Son of God we are dependent
altogether on the revelation of the Word of God.

The simple
remembrance of this will check any tendency to engage in speculation on what
has not been revealed. At the same time, we ought not to be deterred by the
greatness of the subject from entering the fields of inquiry which God invites
us to search out. It will not be forbidden knowledge that we are seeking, but
knowledge that is intended for us to possess.

Much has been
said of late in many quarters of the human limitations of the Lord Jesus. In a
good deal that is current teaching on the subject there is manifest error as to
His Person. He is robbed of His true glory as a divine Person. In fact, the
human limitations He so graciously entered into are used to deny that He was
divine, and thus, in such minds, the Christ of God is destroyed.

That He is God,
in the true and real sense of the term, revelation abundantly asserts. He is
Immanuel—God with us. If He were not divine in the highest sense, this could
not be true. But to be true He must also be man in the true sense of what
humanity is. He is then both God and Man.

Now it ought to
be evident that, as God, He knew no limitations that Deity is not subject to.
He had full divine power, could and did use it. He possessed full divine
wisdom. He knew all things. he knew them divinely. It was in Him as absolute,
essential knowledge. It was the power and wisdom of the Godhead.

Before He
became incarnate He was equal with God. It was not a usurped equality. It
belonged to Him by a divine right. But though being in the essential form of
God, He was pleased to assume the form of a servant, to enter into the human
conditions and limitations of men. In this place which He took, human
conditions and limitations applied to Him. It was not as God that He grew in stature
and wisdom, but as man. Both these things are said of Him, but it was only true
of Him as man, as being in man’s human conditions.

Now He is set
before us in Scripture as perfectly fulfilling these human conditions. He never
drew on His divine power and wisdom merely for Himself, however freely He used
them for others. Having entered upon the path of men, He trod the path as men
have to tread it. Men need the counsel and wisdom of God. They need to seek
these where God has given them. In man’s path the Son of God sought the wisdom
of God, sought it where God had put it for me, and found it. He could say, “I
will bless the LORD, who has given Me counsel” (Psa. 16:7). In all His human
conflicts He used only the means which God has provided for men to gain their
triumphs—the written Word of God. He did not meet the devil with His divine
knowledge, but turned to what God had written for men to live by. “It is
written” was His oft-repeated answer.

There is no
need of denying His deity in order to explain His dependence on the Father.
While thus we preserve the truth of His divine Person, which Scripture again
and again asserts, at the same time we get a more exalted view of the
absolutely perfect obedience and dependence of the blessed Lord. If the very
Son of God Himself could come down into our human path of dependence, and there
perfectly fulfill the human conditions of that path, what honor has He thus put
upon the path! If He could put aside His absolute, perfect, divine knowledge,
and tread the path as if He were not a divine Person but a mere man, and then
say as in Psalm 16, “The lines are fallen unto Me in pleasant places; yea, I
have a goodly heritage,” does He not thus teach us the perfect blessedness of
the path it is our privilege to tread—a path of submission to God, of
dependence upon His will, of obedience to His written Word?

May the Lord
help us to abide in the truth, and above all, the truth of His Person—to
realize that He was very God and very Man. And while we trace His human path,
may we realize how perfectly human He was without losing the divine glory that
everywhere shone forth as manifesting Him to be One who had in grace assumed
the human.

(From Help
and Food, Vol. 22.)

In Job 33:14-17
we are told, “For God speaks once, yea twice, yet man perceives it not. In a
dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, in slumberings
upon the bed. Then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction, that
He may withdraw man from his purpose [or work], and hide pride from man.” This
is how God often speaks to men where they have not open Bibles to give them the
clear revelation of His will. He has many ways of reaching those who seem bent
upon their own destruction. The fourth chapter of Daniel is a remarkable
example of God’s matchless grace, and illustrates most preciously the words
just quoted.

God had spoken the
first time to Nebuchadnezzar in giving him the dream of the great image of
the times of the Gentiles (Dan. 2). But the heart of the king was willful, and
he continued to go on with his own purpose, in his pride and folly. God spoke
to Nebuchadnezzar the second time by the marvelous vision of the Son of
God in the midst of the fiery furnace, keeping His faithful witnesses from all
danger and harm (Dan. 3). But again the proud king kept on his way, with
insubmissive heart and unsubdued will. Now God speaks the third time,
and this in a most humiliating manner, to the confusion of this great
world-ruler before his princes.

In the passage
in Job, Elihu goes on to show that when dreams and visions do not avail, God
sometimes allows disease to grip the body till the poor sinner is broken in
spirit and crushed in heart, ready at last to cry, “I have sinned, and
perverted that which was right, and it profited me not!” (Job 33:27). Then “He
will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the
light” (verse 28).

So in Daniel 4,
written by Nebuchadnezzar himself, and preserved and incorporated into the
volume of inspiration by Daniel, we have the interesting account of the means
God used to bring this haughty king to the end of himself, and lead him to
abase himself before the Majesty in the heavens. In other words, this is
Nebuchadnezzar’s conversion, and seems clearly to show that a work of grace
took place in his soul before he laid down the scepter entrusted to his hand by
Jehovah.

There is a
typical meaning too, no doubt. In Nebuchadnezzar we see a picture of all
Gentile power and its departure from God, its degradation and bestial
character, and its final subjugation to God in the time of the end, when Christ
shall return in glory and all nations shall bow before Him, owning His
righteous rule.

Nebuchadnezzar
was the embodiment of authority given from heaven:“The powers that be are
ordained of God” (Rom. 13:1). But the king’s madness depicts the turning away
of the nations from God and the corruption of governments to serve human ends.
Has not this been characteristic of the great ones of this world? Instead of
kings standing for God and acting as His representatives to maintain justice
and judgment in the earth, do we not find pride, self-will, covetousness, and
self-seeking generally controlling them? All this is pictured by the debasement
of Nebuchadnezzar when his heart was changed to the heart of a beast, and he
was driven forth to eat grass like the oxen of the fields.

But the day
draws near when God will assert Himself, and all Gentile dominion shall come to
an end. Then the long-promised King will shine forth in His glorious majesty,
and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor unto the new
Jerusalem, the heavenly throne-city of the coming kingdom. Then will the
nations look up as redeemed men, and not down as the beasts that perish.

Even in this
present age history teaches us the value of a national recognition of God’s
moral government. We have heard of the heathen chieftain who came from his
distant domain to visit Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. One day he asked
her if she would tell him the secret of England’s progress and greatness. For
answer, it is said, the queen presented him with a Bible, saying, “This book
will tell you.” Who can doubt that according to the measure in which that Book
of books has been believed and loved by any people, God has honored them; and
you will find that every nation that has welcomed and protected the gospel has
been cared for and blessed in a special way. On the other hand, let there be a
national rejection of His Word, as in the case of the French nation, who were
among the first favored by Him in Reformation times, but drove out the truth He
gave them, and you will find disaster following disaster.

But let us now
turn directly to our chapter for a concrete example of all this. It begins
with:“Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that
dwell in all the earth” (Dan. 4:1). This comes home to my heart in a most
marked way. I realize that I am reading the personal testimony of one who was
in some respects the greatest monarch this world has ever known; I am
privileged to have his own account of how he—a proud, self-willed man—was
brought to repentance and to the saving knowledge of the God of all grace!

What a miracle
this is! In fact, every conversion is a miracle—every soul that is saved knows
that it is to be dealt with in supernatural power. It is God alone who changes
men about like this. He picks up a vile, wretched sinner and makes him a holy,
happy saint. He works in the drunkard’s soul and changes him to a sober, useful
member of society. He breaks down the proud and stubborn, and they become meek
and lowly, easy to be entreated. Are not these things miracles? Indeed they
are, and they are being enacted all around us; yet men sneer and say that the
miraculous never happens in this law-controlled, workaday world of ours! Oh
that men might have their eyes opened to see and their ears to hear
what God in His grace is doing on the basis of the one offering for sin of His
blessed Son upon the cross!

“I thought it
good,” Nebuchadnezzar goes on, “to show the signs and wonders that the high God
has wrought toward me. How great are His signs! and how mighty are His wonders!
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to
generation” (Dan. 4:2,3). What a splendid confession this is, and how different
from his previous acknowledgments in chapters 2 and 3! Ah, his conscience has
been reached now, and he knows God for himself, and delights to tell of His
signs and wonders wrought toward him! He owns Him now not as a
god, but as the one true and living God whose kingdom rules over all, and shall
continue forevermore. This is not the millennial kingdom of Christ of which he
speaks, but God’s moral government of the universe, which nothing ever alters
for a moment.

And now I would
like to be very personal, and press some questions home upon each listener.
Have you ever been brought into direct contact with Him, so that you can speak
confidently of what He has done for your soul? Have you been humbled by getting
a sight of yourself as a lost, undone sinner before Him? Have you owned
yourself unclean and undone, in dire need of sovereign mercy? And do you know
what it is to have fled for refuge to the very God against whom you have sinned
so grievously, and to have found in His Son our Lord Jesus Christ a hiding
place from the judgment your sins deserved?

Before God
awakened Nebuchadnezzar, he had been “at rest in [his] house, and flourishing
in [his] palace” (verse 4). There is a deceitful rest and peace that lulls many
a soul into a false security. To be untroubled is no evidence of safety. Be
sure that your peace is founded on the blood of Christ shed upon the cross.

Nebuchadnezzar
tells us how he was aroused from that false security in which he had dwelt so
long. “I saw a dream,” he says, “that made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my
bed and the visions of my head troubled me” (verse 5). God saw that he needed
to be troubled—he needed to be awakened from his sleep of death. It was grace
that thus exercised him. And in some way every soul that is saved has to pass
through this period of soul-anxiety and concern. Nebuchadnezzar turned, as
before, to the wrong source for help in his time of difficulty. He called in
his magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers, to whom he narrated his
dream, but to no avail. At last Daniel came in, and to him the king turned
expectantly and related his dream (verses 6-18).

The meaning was
evidently clear to Daniel from the first, but we are told that he was
astonished for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. Nebuchadnezzar must
have discerned the anxiety and sorrow in the face of his minister, for he spoke
in a way to give him confidence to proceed with the interpretation. It is a
blessed thing for any soul to get to the place where he can say, “Give me God’s
word, and let me know it is His word, and I will receive it, no matter
how it cuts and interferes with my most cherished thoughts.”

“My lord,
Daniel answered, “the dream be to those who hate you, and the interpretation
thereof to your enemies. He then proceeded to explain the dream. Nebuchadnezzar
had been set by God in a special place of prominence in the earth as the head
of all peoples and dominions. But he was to be humbled to the very lowest
depths (verses 19-27).

All happened
exactly as Daniel had said, for Nebuchadnezzar, still not humbled, though he
had listened so respectfully to the words of the prophet, walked one day, a
year later, in the palace of his kingdom overlooking the city. As he walked he
said to himself, “Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of
the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?” (verses
28-30). Thus did Nebuchadnezzar forget how he was indebted to the most high God
for the position he occupied and the riches and the glory of it, and took all
the credit to himself. While the word was in his mouth the decree was spoken,
and he was informed by a voice from heaven that the time had come when the
dream should be fulfilled. The same hour he lost his reason and became a
pitiable spectacle, unfit to associate with his fellows. He was driven from men
into the open fields where he became like the beasts that perish (verses
31-33).

After seven
years Nebuchadnezzar lifted up his eyes; his reason returned to him; he saw
that God had been dealing with him; his lesson was learned; he blessed the most
high God; he turned to Him in repentance; he owned Him as his God; and then he
wrote out this account of his conversion, that others might, with him, be
humbled before the only true God and bless Him for His mercy.

Thus will it be
with the spared nations after the judgments that are to take place in the time
of the end. Nebuchadnezzar aptly typifies all Gentile power, as we have already
noticed. It has been haughty, insolent, and heaven-defying. Forgetting God, the
true source of authority and power, it has become like the beasts of the earth.
You know something of its course since it crucified the Lord of glory. The
nations have been mad—as utterly bereft of all true reason as was the demented
king of Babylon. But the day is nearing when God, in His grace, is going to end
all this and deliver a groaning world from the evils of selfish despotism and
national jealousies. Christ’s personal return from heaven will conclude the
long period of Gentile misrule. Creation groans for the hour when the one true
King will be manifested, when our Lord Jesus Christ “in His times will show who
is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1
Tim. 6:15).

“The blessed
Potentate” means a truly happy ruler! The world has never seen a happy
potentate in the past. Shakespeare’s line has passed into a proverb:“Uneasy
lies the head that wears a crown.” But in the days of our Lord Jesus Christ,
when He takes the rod of power and reigns in righteousness, the world, for the
first time, will see a happy Potentate. Who can measure the happiness of
the Son of God when He descends to take the kingdom for which He has waited so
long; when He has His own beloved bride with Himself to share His glory! Then
“He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied” (Isa. 53:11).

“That happy
Potentate” excludes all sorrow and disappointment. “That only Potentate”
excludes every other rule. Upon His head will be many crowns. Every other crown
will be cast at His feet, and He will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Happy for those, in that day, who have humbled themselves in this, and who,
like Nebuchadnezzar, have owned the righteousness of His dealings with them;
who have confessed their sins before Him; and who will be able to exclaim with
joy, when He descends in majesty, “This is our God:we have waited for Him”
(Isa. 25:9).

Have you bowed
in contrition at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, and trusted Him as your own
Saviour, and owned Him as your rightful Lord? If you have, you can look up and
say with happy confidence, “Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).

(From Lectures
on Daniel the Prophet, Loizeaux, Neptune, NJ; used by permission.)

There is such a
thing as becoming one-sided in regard to the truth of God. This is true in
regard to the doctrine of “Faith Healing.” The Scriptures surely do teach us
that it is our privilege to go to God with all our difficulties and needs,
spiritual and physical. Many a child of God has had the answer to believing
prayer in the form of renewed health or deliverance from diseases of various
forms. Far be it from us to weaken in anyone the sense of dependence upon God
for the healing of the body, for we believe that did Christians trust the Lord
more and man less about such matters it would be more honoring to God.

While it is
certainly true that God does answer faith, we desire to present another side to
the Scriptural teaching as to divine healing. It is hoped that this will
provide our readers with a balanced view of this topic.

Let us note,
first of all, that sickness is sometimes the result of sin:“He who eats and
drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the
Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged” (1 Cor. 11:29-31).
Unjudged sin was bringing weakness, sickness, and even death upon the
Corinthian Christians. God’s reason for sending death to them was that they
“should not be condemned with the world” (verse 32). In Jas. 5:14,15 as well we
find that it may be sins that caused the sickness:“If he have committed sins,
they shall be forgiven him.”

This is not to
say that all ill health and sickness is caused by sin. In fact, we are
plainly given to understand that earnest, faithful work for the Lord Jesus
Christ may be the cause of ill health which nearly terminates in death. The
apostle Paul says of Epaphroditus, “Indeed he was sick nigh unto death, but God
had mercy on him…. For the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not
regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me” (Phil. 2:27-30).

Let us now turn
our thoughts to the one whom the apostle Paul calls his own son in the faith.
Would that more of the Christian young men of our day were filled with the same
faith and love as was Timothy! Paul says of Timothy, “I have no man like-minded
who will naturally care for your state” (Phil. 2:21). Yet, though Timothy was
faithful to the Lord, to His people in general, and to the apostle Paul in
particular, he was one who had often infirmities and stomach
difficulties. This being the case, should he not exercise faith and thus be
cured of his trouble? Will the apostle not write recommending him to do so?
This is what the apostle did write through the leading of the Holy
Spirit:“Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake
and your often infirmities” (1 Tim. 5:23). Paul advised Timothy to take a
little medicine, in the form of wine. True, it was a little he was to
use, and as a medicine; and being in the habit of taking water, he had to be told
to take wine.

The apostle
Paul had power to heal persons of diseases. Is it not strange that he should
leave one of his helpers at Miletum sick? “Trophimus have I left at Miletum
sick” (2 Tim. 4:20). Neither Trophimus nor Paul exercised faith as to the
restoration to health. Has the Lord nothing to teach us by this fact? Can we
not learn by it that it is not always the Lord’s will that His children should
receive faith for the healing of disease?

Once more, the
apostle speaks of “Luke the beloved physician” (Col. 4:14). Here was one
of the Lord’s people who was a physician; not only so, he was a beloved one to
Paul. If sickness is always a sign of unjudged sin in the one who is sick, and
it is sinful to take medicine for relief, would Paul refer to one whose
profession was to administer medicine as the “beloved” physician, when he
knew that his was a profession whose very nature led him to prescribe a
course of treatment which would then be actually sinful? Thus we see that the
Word of God does not lead us to suppose that one who is a physician is
following a profession which is contrary to the will of God, seeing the word
“beloved” is a term of special affection.

On the one
hand, the Scriptures teach that the One who, while upon the earth, said,
“According to your faith be it unto you” (Matt. 9:29), is still able to give
faith to trust Him about bodily ailments, and in response to faith is able to
heal the disease. On the other hand, it is well to remember that, in wisdom
that no man can rightly question, God’s will may be that one who is sick not
be healed in a miraculous way, or perhaps not at all (as in 2 Cor.
12:7-9). The object in writing the foregoing is not to weaken in any degree a
humble dependence upon God for the healing of the body, but to bring out the
other side of truth from the Word of God which seems to be passed over by many.

Should God
enable any to trust Him for healing, be sure to give God the glory, and do not
think of it as though it were a thing of merit to man that God healed
the sick.

(From Help
and Food, Vol. 13.)

In presenting
the truth as to the second coming of our Lord Jesus it is imperative that we
follow the clear lines of Holy Scripture. The New Testament is full of this
subject from Matthew to Revelation. But we must distinguish, and not confound,
the closing part of our Christian age and that of the next or Jewish
age—the last week of Daniel’s prophecy (Dan. 9:20-27), the last half being the
time of the great tribulation. The present dispensation is called the “Day of Grace.”
Daniel’s last week will be characterized as the “Day of Trouble” (Jer.
30:7). The millennium that follows is a thousand year period called the “Day of
the Lord” (1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:10). The eternal state that follows the
millennium is styled the “Day of God” and also the “Day of Eternity” (2 Pet.
3:12,18 JND).   In Daniel, as also in Rev. 6-19, dates are given, but none of
those dates refer to our Christian age. To observe the characteristic features
of our age as given in the Epistles, and the characteristic features of
Daniel’s last week as given in the prophecies, is most important; they should
not be confounded.

Some of the
features that apply to the close of the Christian age have for long been
manifest:the moral and spiritual darkness thickens day by day; but nowhere in
the New Testament have we the least hint as to how long these characteristic
marks may continue. We are now [this was written in the year 1916] about 1900
years on in our Christian age. The spirit of lawlessness had already begun in
the apostle’s day. How much more now (1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 3:1-13; 1 John
2:18-19).

The world is
now confronted with an appalling war [World War I]. We should not underestimate
the gigantic struggle now going on among the nations. But even this is not the
worst. Darker days are yet in the future. Wars, energized by more than human
agencies, will follow our age; they take place after the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ for His own (1 Thess. 4:13-18). Armageddon, as presented in Rev.
16, will take place at the close of Daniel’s last week—the close of the Day of
Trouble. To have our mind calm and stayed by the Word of God is the great thing
for us.

Predictions
concerning the present war are very harmful. We have seen and heard such
predictions during the last half century, and the enemy has used them to
confuse many and to discredit the truth. Let us all be warned and use great
caution concerning events as they are now taking place.

Within our own
lifetime we can remember the great war that was waged between Russia and Turkey
(two nations that come within the scope of the prophetic Word), and some
thought that the end was at hand. But that conflict passed, peace was restored,
and the Lord did not then come.

Since then
there have been conflicts between Greece and Turkey, Italy and Turkey, and the
Balkan States and Turkey, but each time peace was restored and the end of the
age has not come.

Now we are in
the second year of a war that surpasses all that Europe or the world has ever
yet known or witnessed. What a call for prayer to the whole Church of God! What
earnestness this dread conflict should awaken in the hearts of all the redeemed
people! It is clear that the present world is yet an evil world. As thousands
day by day are violently thrown into eternity, oh for hearts to be stirred and
energized by the Spirit to walk before God and serve the Lord with increased
devotion!

Yet, amid this
dread conflict, let us beware of premature predictions concerning the second
coming of our Lord Jesus on that account. We cannot say that this is the last
link in the chain of great events to bring in our Lord’s second coming. This may
be the last, but, as we have said, times and dates do not form part of the
Christian dispensation. It is very important to note that in all the New
Testament no war is mentioned after the one predicted by the Lord concerning
the Romans’ destruction of Jerusalem (Luke 21:20-24) until we come to Rev. 6
when the same empire, revived, will once more come to the front. Wars
and rumors of wars will then fill the air until the final struggle—the
battle of Armageddon.

The apostle
Paul’s entire ministry, in which are fully made known the characteristic
features of our age as well as the marks of its close, passes over this entire
subject and never once mentions these struggles or wars among the nations.
Throughout the history of Christianity there have been many wars, but the
entire New Testament passes them all over and gives them no prophetic notice
whatever. This silence of Scripture ought to cause special inquiry and produce
moderation as to predictions at the present time.

We must turn
away from all these conditions—national, political, and ecclesiastical. As we
view the second coming of our Lord Jesus we stand upon a safer foundation—the
unerring Word of God and the promises left us by the Lord Jesus. Do we believe
His coming is near? If so, what is our basis for such a belief? From John 14 to
Rev. 3, the Lord’s return is ever presented to the Church as its hope. From the
infant days of the Church the second coming of Christ was ever before them.
Wars gave them no evidence of the near approach of Christ’s coming. It was the
promises given by Christ and by the apostles that formed the basis of that
hope. When the Thessalonians “turned to God from idols to serve the living and
true God, and [waited] for His Son from heaven (1 Thess. 1:9,10), no great
political event was occurring; yet the Church has never since been so stirred
by, and joyfully looking for, that blessed hope. They were waiting for the
fulfillment of His promise, “I will come again” (John 14:3). Their hearts were
encouraged in this hope by the pen of the apostle, “For yet a little while, and
He that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Heb. 10:37). The sure Word
of God, we repeat, was the firm basis upon which they looked for Christ’s
return.

Is it not a
mark of the Church’s deep declension that events such as this horrible world
war are required to stir us to look for the Lord’s second coming? Does it not
prove that we are not hanging upon that special promise left us before
He went away, and that we are not making that blessed hope our meat and drink
continually?

Let us afresh
gird our loins, trim our lamps, and be “like unto men who wait for their Lord”
(Luke 12:35,36).

(From Help
and Food, Vol. 34.)

I recently
received a letter from a brother saying that some co-workers of his had
relatives in lower Manhattan at the time of the September 11 horrors. He
writes, “All escaped, so fortunately my friends do not have to deal directly
with personal tragedy. I’m not sure that most people (myself included) are
equipped to help others deal with something of this severity. What do you
think?” This brother raises a good question. How well are we equipped
for such a task. It might be a good idea for each Christian assembly to
schedule a series of meetings to discuss what the Bible teaches us about
counseling people who have lost loved ones or are experiencing other kinds of
severe trials.

       General Principles

Based on my own
rather limited experience, five important principles of counseling emerge:“Let
every man be swift to hear, slow to speak” (Jas. 1:19); “pray without ceasing”
(1 Thess. 5:17); “comfort the faint-hearted” (1 Thess. 5:14 JND); “Jesus wept”
(John 11:35); and “all Scripture … is profitable … that the man of God may
be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:16,17). Let us
be careful not to jump in quickly with lots of verses like Romans 8:28 (as I
have had a tendency to do), but simply listen to, pray with, console, and weep
with the grieving or hurting person. As we listen, we may find out more
specifically what is troubling the person. Maybe the major grief is due to an
aching heart that is terribly lonely since the death of a loved one. Maybe there
are guilt-feelings or real guilt due to unconfessed sins against the loved one
who has died. Maybe there is excruciating physical pain. Maybe there is anger
toward God or medical personnel or family members. Maybe there are fears of
different sorts. Instead of giving a blanket prescription, “Well, brother, just
read your Bible and take your troubles to the Lord in prayer,” let us pray for
the spiritual wisdom to help the person by gently suggesting specific Scripture
verses and passages for specific concerns.

Counseling Those Who Are
Unsaved

If the
counselee is unsaved (or we are not sure of his/her state of soul), we must
still be willing to listen, pray, console, and weep. In addition, I believe it
is important to ask questions that will reveal the person’s relationship with
the Lord. In my personal experience as a volunteer at the Baltimore City
Detention Center for the past 16 years, many inmates have come to me with
overwhelming burdens and have poured out their grieving, troubled, hopeless,
and despairing hearts to me:Maybe a close family member just died (often a
grandmother who was particularly loving and caring or a brother who was shot to
death), or his wife has filed for divorce, or his entire family will have
nothing to do with him, or all of his family live far away and he has no
friends or relatives locally, or he has been evicted from his apartment and all
of his belongings will be put out by the street, or he has lost his job because
of his incarceration, or he tests HIV-positive, or he has been falsely and
wrongfully charged with murder, etc. Sometimes I can do a little bit to help
with these immediate problems, but many times I am utterly unable to help them
with these things. But, thank God, I can help with the greatest, deepest
need of that man. So I bring the discussion around to his relationship with the
Lord and go through a presentation of the gospel with him. Almost invariably,
these men go away thanking me for giving them hope and telling me that they
feel like the burden has lifted. How many of them have truly become saved I
cannot say, but they have been pointed in the right direction and can begin to
see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Counseling Those Who Are
Saved

A Christian
woman, grieving over the untimely loss of a loved one, asked, “What did I
do that the Lord should take away my loved one?” The Scriptures have much to
say in answer to questions like this. Here are 15 reasons given in the Bible in
answer to the question, “Why does God allow His people to suffer?”

 1. That we
might be partakers of Christ’s sufferings. “Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial which is to try you … but rejoice, inasmuch as you
are partakers of Christ’s sufferings” (1 Pet. 4:12,13; also Rom. 8:17; Col.
1:24; 2 Tim. 2:12; 1 Pet. 2:21).

 2. That we
might be purified and partakers of God’s holiness. “For [our fathers] for a
few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but [God] for our profit, that
we might be partakers of His holiness” (Heb. 12:10; also Job 42:6; Psa.
119:67,71; 1 Pet. 5:10).

 3. That we
might learn more of God’s grace and goodness and manifest the works and
goodness of God. “His disciples asked Him saying, Master, who sinned, this
man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither has this
man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest
in him” (John 9:2,3; also Psa. 107; Rom. 8:28).

 4. That we
might glorify God. “If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are
you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you; on their part He is
evil spoken of but on your part He is glorified (1 Pet. 4:14,16; also Psa.
50:15; John 11:4; 17:5).

 5. That we
might demonstrate the superiority of the power and grace of God to the power of
Satan. Satan said, “Touch all that [Job] has, and he will curse Thee to Thy
face.” Job said, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the
name of the LORD” (Job 1:11,21; 2:5,10; also Mark 5:1-15; Rev. 2:10).

 6. That we
might learn patience. “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into
diverse temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith works
patience” (Jas. 1:3; Rom. 5:3).

 7. That we
might realize our own weakness and learn to depend more upon the Lord’s
strength. “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart
from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you:for my strength
is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my
infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in
distresses for Christ’s sake:for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor.
12:8-10; also 1:9).

 8. That we
might be drawn closer to one another as children of God and members of the body
of Christ. “Peter therefore was kept in prison; but prayer was made without
ceasing of the church unto God for him” (Acts 12:5,12; also 2 Cor. 1:9).

 9. That we
might be able better to comfort, encourage, and empathize with others in their
suffering. “Blessed be God … who comforts us in all our tribulation, that
we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, by the comfort
wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (2 Cor. 1:3-7).

10. That we
might be a testimony to the unsaved. “And at midnight Paul and Silas
prayed, and sang praises unto God:and the prisoners heard them…. And the
keeper of the prison … fell down before Paul and Silas … and said, Sirs,
what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:25-31).

11. That we
might be weaned from this present world and provoked to yearn for the next
world. “For we who are in this tabernacle [that is, our physical body] do
groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed [that is, our soul
and spirit with the Lord and our body in the grave], but clothed upon [that is,
with our resurrection body at the coming of Christ]”(2 Cor. 5:4; also 4:17; Phil.
1:23).

12. That we
might smite the consciences of evildoers by returning good for evil. “If
your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink:for in so doing
you shall heap coals of fire on his head” (Rom. 12:19-21; also 2 Ki. 6:21-23;
Matt. 5:44; 1 Pet. 3:6).

13. That we
might be awakened to our sin or judged for our lack of repentance and
persistence in sinning. “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you,
and many sleep”(1 Cor. 11:30).

14. That we
might have impressed upon us the seriousness of sin, even after we have
confessed it to the Lord. “And the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife
bore unto David, and it was very sick” (2 Sam. 12:7-15).

15. That we
might receive the natural and just consequences of our sinful behavior. “Be
not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also
reap” (Gal. 6:7).

Christians who
are experiencing serious trials and tribulations often needed to be told about
these various reasons for pain and suffering. It needs to be emphasized that
only three of the reasons in this list of 15 pertain directly to the person’s
own sinful behavior.

“In the
multitude of counselors there is safety” (Prov. 11:14; 15:22; 24:6). May the
Lord give us all the wisdom through His Word to become better counselors.

              * * *

My life is but
a weaving,

Between my Lord
and me;

I cannot choose
the colors,

He worketh
steadily.

Ofttimes He
weaveth sorrow,

And I in
foolish pride,

Forget He sees
the upper,

And I, the
underside.

Not till the
loom is silent,

And the
shuttles cease to fly,

Will He unroll
the canvas,

And explain the
reason why.

The dark
threads are as needful

In the Weaver’s
skillful hand

As the threads
of gold and

silver,

In the pattern
He has planned.

              * * *

The potter has
the power,

The knowledge,
and the skill,

To fashion
every vessel

According to
his will.

The pattern and
the purpose

Of every vessel
planned,

Its usefulness
and beauty

Are in the
potter’s hand.

The clay makes
no decision

Has no will of
its own,

But yielded to
the potter,

His pattern is
made known.

And thus the
Master Potter

Our service has
outlined;

He asks us to
be yielded

Unto His will
and mind.

His purpose to
acknowledge,

To listen to
His voice,

To let Him plan
our pathway,

According to
His choice.

A vessel marred
and broken,

We may not
understand,

But all can be
committed

Unto the
Potter’s hand.

Our Father’s
way is perfect,

His thought
toward us is love;

He’s fashioning
and molding

For life with
Him above.

To trust the
Heavenly Potter

And let Him
mold the clay,

Brings joy, and
peace, and

blessing

And happiness
alway.

In Parts I-III
of this series we considered Scriptural evidence for the deity of Christ, some
ancient and modern heresies concerning the deity of Christ, and some specific
Scriptures used to support heretical teachings concerning the deity of Christ.
In Part IV we considered Scriptural evidence for the humanity of Christ. We now
conclude this series of articles by describing some ancient and modern

     Heresies Concerning the

       Humanity of Christ.

The Docetic
(Gnostic) Heresy. “Docetic” is from the Greek word meaning “to seem, to
appear.” This is the teaching that Christ had no real body; His appearance was
only an apparition, His body a phantom, His birth and death visions. This way
of thinking was present in the 1st century A.D. and was refuted in 1 John 4:2
and 2 John 7. Many variations of this heresy developed during the first few
centuries of Christianity; it was a common teaching of the Gnostics. An example
of docetic thinking was the teaching of Basilides of Egypt that it was Simon of
Cyrene who was crucified in disguise of Jesus. (This is similar to the notion
incorporated into the Islamic Qu’ran several centuries later that it wasn’t
really Jesus who died on the cross but one who was made to look like Him, while
Jesus was taken directly to heaven without dying.)

It is somewhat
understandable why people would want to deny that Jesus Christ is
divine—co-equal with the eternal God the Father. But why would people want to
accept the deity but not the humanity of Christ? The Gnostics, following the
Greek philosopher Plato, believed that matter was evil, subject to change and
decay, whereas ideas had permanence and perfection. Thus God could not become
man with a physical body, for in so doing He would become tainted with evil.
Some “Gnostic Christians” handled this dilemma by denying Christ’s deity;
others—the docetic Gnostics—dealt with it by saying that Christ didn’t really
become man at all but only appeared to have a body.

The answer to
this apparent dilemma is that the whole premise is wrong:there is nothing
inherently evil in matter or in the human body. After creating Adam’s body,
soul, and spirit, “God saw every thing that He had made, and behold, it was
very good” (Gen. 1:31). Christ died to redeem our body (Rom. 8:23) as well as
our soul and spirit (Psa. 31:5; 49:15; 69:18). Our present physical body is
called “a natural [literally, ‘soulish’] body” (1 Cor. 15:44), that is, a body
that is ideally suited to the soul of man. In the same verse, our future,
resurrection body in heaven is called “a spiritual body,” that is, a body that
is ideally suited to the spirit of man—the part of us that sets us apart from
all of the animal kingdom and fits us to communicate with and enjoy God.

When a believer
dies, he is “absent from the body and present [in soul and spirit] with the
Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). But a few verses earlier, the apostle Paul states that
there is something better than dying and having our soul and spirit go to
heaven:“For we know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in
the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with
our house which is from heaven…. For we who are in this tabernacle do groan,
being burdened:not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon” (2 Cor.
5:1-4). The “unclothed” state is having our soul and spirit in heaven and our
body in the grave. The “clothed” state is having our resurrection body joined
with our soul and spirit in heaven. This will happen at “the coming of the
Lord” for His own (1 Thess. 4:15-17) when “the dead shall be raised
incorruptible” (1 Cor. 15:52).

We have taken
this brief side trip to illustrate that matter and body—far from being evil—are
given great honor by God. The greatest honor of all placed upon man’s physical
body was for the eternal Son of God to take upon Himself such a body in His
Incarnation. Christ as Man has given expression to the ideal Man, the perfect
Man, the One who delighted always to do the will of the Father (Psa. 40:8; Heb.
10:7) and in whom the Father found all His delight (Matt. 3:17 JND).

The
Apollinarian Heresy. Apollinarius, a leader of the Church in Syria in the
4th century A.D., was a strong opponent of the Arian Heresy (see Part II of
this series in the Jan-Feb 2001 issue) that denied the deity of Christ. But He
went too far in the opposite direction:he taught that Christ had a human body
but not a human soul and spirit. Christ’s divine nature took the place of soul
and spirit, he taught. His argument was that if Christ had been fully human in
body, soul, and spirit, He would have been sinful. But it is just as wrong to
assume that the human soul and spirit are inherently sinful as to assume that the
human body is such. As Christians we are “partakers of the divine nature” (2
Pet. 1:4) which “cannot sin” (1 John 4:9). As fallen men and women  of Adam’s
race, we also possess a sinful nature (Rom. 7:17,18). But in heaven we will “be
conformed to the image of [God’s] Son” (Rom. 8:29). That is, our old, sinful
nature will be taken away from us. We will still be human in body, soul, and
spirit, but clothed with a new, incorruptible and immortal body (1 Cor.
15:52-54), and with our sinful nature removed.

On earth,
Christ Jesus as Man was just like us, “yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). In heaven
we shall be like the Man Christ Jesus (1 John 3:2) in our humanity:that one
difference—the sin nature—will be removed, whereas we shall retain our new
nature that “cannot sin” (1 John 3:9).

In Part IV of
this series in the previous issue, we considered a number of ways in which
Christ showed that He was human. In addition to many physical or bodily
expressions of His humanity, we gave examples of His human emotions, including
His affection, sympathy, compassion, mental agony, and loneliness. His human
soul and spirit are referred to in the following verses:“Then said He unto
them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death” (Matt. 26:38); “When Jesus
had thus said, He was troubled in spirit” (John 13:21). Surely, Jesus could not
have cried, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46) without
having a human soul and spirit.

The teaching of
Apollinarius was rejected as heterodox (that is, not true to Scripture) by the
Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D. and has continued to be rejected by
orthodox Christians up to the present time. This error was taught by a man
named F. E. Raven about a hundred years ago and is still taught by his
followers today. Also, in the 1930’s the Apollinarian teaching of a man named
James Boyd contributed to a division in the so-called “Grant Fellowship” of
Christians. Erwin Lutzer in his book, The Doctrines That Divide (Kregel,
1998) writes that he has met many believers who assume that the physical body
of Christ came from Mary, but that His soul and spirit were not human but
divine. This apparently comes from lack of teaching and understanding of God’s
Word rather than any concerted Apollinarian teaching today.

As stated in
the previous issue, it is important to hold the full humanity of Christ (as
well as the full deity of Christ) because He could not otherwise have made full
atonement for our sins. The Redeemer had to be a man to actually die.
“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also
Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him
who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14). If He were not
fully human, He could not have fully represented us on the cross. If He had had
only a human body, but not a human soul and spirit, He could have redeemed only
man’s body, and not man’s soul and spirit. With only our body redeemed, we
might live forever without disease or death, but still retaining our sin
nature.

The
Nestorian Heresy. Following the Council of Constantinople there was general
assent in the Church as to the full deity and humanity of Christ. But in the
5th century A.D. there was a concerted effort on the part of many theologians
to try to define just exactly how the divine and human natures were united in
Christ. Nestorius, a Christian leader in Constantinople around 430 A.D.,
asserted that Christ was two distinct persons—Son of Man and Son of God—rather
than having divine and human natures united in one Person. At the Council of
Ephesus in 431 A.D., Nestorius’ teaching was condemned. We can easily fall into
the Nestorian error when we say that Christ said this as Son of Man and did
that as Son of God. No doubt it would be best to say that whatever the Man
Christ Jesus said and did, He did as one divine-human Person, without trying to
separate His divine and human natures.

Other scholars,
attempting to correct the Nestorian Heresy, went too far in the opposite
direction, teaching, for example, that Christ’s deity and humanity were blended
together into a single nature. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D. produced
the following statement as to the uniting of the divine and human natures of
Christ:“Christ … acknowledged in two natures, unconfusedly, unchangeable,
indivisibly, inseparably, the distinction of natures being by no means taken
away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and
concurring in one person and one subsistence, not parted or divided into two
persons, but one and the same Son, Only-begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus
Christ.”

Perhaps it is
best to conclude this section with the following verse:“No man knows the Son
but the Father” (Matt. 11:27).

Will Christ
Cease Being a Man? (This question logically belongs to Part IV of this
series.) Clearly Christ was still a Man following His death and resurrection.
When He ascended to heaven, the angels said, “This same Jesus, who is taken up
from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into
heaven” (Acts 1:11). Accordingly, Stephen and the apostle Paul saw Him after
His ascension (Acts 7:55,56; 1 Cor. 15:8). It is prophesied in the Word that
Christ will return, as a Man, to set up His kingdom upon the earth and reign
for 1,000 years on the throne of David (Psa. 132:11; Isa. 9:7; Zech. 14:4; Luke
1:32; Rev. 1:7). Will He cease being a Man at the end of His 1,000 year reign
over the earth? No, the following verses indicate that Christ will never
cease being Man, just as He will never cease being God:“This Man, because He
continues ever, has an unchangeable priesthood…. The Son … is consecrated
[as Priest] for evermore…. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and
forever” (Heb. 7:24,28; 13:8; see also Zech. 12:10; 13:6).

There is a Man
in the glory with whom we shall communicate, and whom we shall worship, adore,
and enjoy forevermore. Praise His holy name! “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).

Oh, the Rest of simply
trusting!

Yielded to my
Father’s will,

In His loving arms enfolded,

Just to trust
Him, and be still.

Rest from toiling, rest from
bearing;

Rest beneath
the midday sky;

Trusting Jesus, leaning on Him,

Truest,
sweetest rest have I!

Oh, the Peace of simply
trusting!

Perfect peace,
full, deep, serene,

Like an endless river flowing

With an
ever-brightening sheen.

Peace in conflict, peace in
trial,

Peace, while
tempests o’er me sweep;

’Mid the fiercest, wildest
tumults,

Christ my soul
in peace will keep.

Oh, the Joy of simply
trusting!

Is there joy can
equal this?

Calm delight and holy gladness,

Foretaste of
the coming bliss!

Joy, though sorrows dark enshroud
me;

Joy, though
doubts and fears assail;

Joy in deepest tribulation,

Trusting Him
who ne’er can fail.

Trusting! oh, who would not trust
Him,

When He gives
rewards like these?

Rest complete, and joy unending,

Fullest pardon,
perfect peace!

Trust Him—this is all the secret;

Take Him simply
at His word;

Trust Him only, trust Him wholly,

Christ, thy
Saviour and thy Lord!

(From Help
and Food, Vol. 42.)

"I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God" (Rom. 12:1).

The first lesson to be learned
here is a very important one—the apostle’s style of address. How graciously and
tenderly he entreats the saints at Rome as brethren! Great apostle as he was,
he places them all on the same level with himself. This, of course, is true of
all Christians as regards their pardon and acceptance in Christ, however varied
their condition may be as to the manifestation of the divine nature. "One
is your Master, even Christ, and all of you are brethren" (Matt. 23:8).
But how endearing is the apostle’s manner, compared with the high, imperious
style of many who profess to be His successors, or at least to be ministers of
Christ! "I beseech you therefore, brethren." This is true humility
though accompanied with divine authority. Only nearness to the Lord can give
both. But what an example for all Christians when having to do with the poorest
of the flock!

"The mercies of God."
This is the foundation on which the exhortation rests. True Christian
devotedness evidently flows from the devout consideration of the mercies or
compassions of God to the poor outcast sinner. The apostle appeals to the
hearts of the brethren as being happily acquainted with the riches of divine
mercy to lost and ruined souls. The effect of meditating on this aspect of
God’s character is transformation to His image, and devotedness to His glory,
as our holy, acceptable, and reasonable service. Most blessed, precious
privilege! And this holy imitation of the divine character, be it observed, is
not the result of our own efforts, but flows naturally from the blessed truth
that we are made partakers of the divine nature, as taught more fully by the
apostle elsewhere. "Be therefore followers [or imitators] of God, as dear
children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given Himself
for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor"
(Eph. 5:1,2). Here pause for a moment and meditate deeply; the subject is vast
and most practical. Talking of devotedness, of holiness, of consecration, what
is your standard? Is it your own possible attainments by unwearied watchings,
fastings, diligence, or what? Self in a thousand ways may be your governing
object, but wrong in all. Could God present a lesser or lower object to His
children than Himself, as morally displayed in the Person and work of His
beloved Son? Impossible! As another has written:"It would dishonor
Himself and the grace He has shown us; and it would be the most grievous loss
to His beloved children whom He would train and bless yet more and more even in
this scene of evil and sorrow, turning the most adverse circumstances into an
occasion of teaching us what He is in the depths of His grace…. Neither law
nor even promise ever opened such a field as this. The very call so to imitate
God supposes the perfect grace in which we stand:indeed, it would be
insupportable otherwise" (Lectures on Ephesians by W. Kelly.)

Returning to Romans 12, the word
"mercies" is here used in the plural because it signifies, not mercy
as an attribute of God simply, but the compassions of God that have been fully
manifested to us in so many different ways. It may have a special reference to
verse 31 of chapter 11 where we find Jews as well as Gentiles concluded in
unbelief that God may have mercy upon all. It was pure mercy that thought of us
in the counsels of eternity, that gave us a place in the purposes of God, that
wrote our names in the Lamb’s book of life, that watched over us in the days of
our unbelief, that called us by His gospel, that gave us deliverance from sin
and condemnation, that gave us the Holy Spirit, union with Christ, the hope of
His coming, communion with God the Father, and the enjoyment of all the
unspeakable blessings of His grace and love.

"That you present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service." The apostle leaves no room here for the liberty of the flesh, or
for going back to the law as a rule of life. The believer is to be formed
morally by the knowledge of God, and consecrated to Him as his reasonable
service. It is of the body, or outer man, that the apostle expressly speaks.
The body is here viewed as the sacrifice, and the believer as presenting it, so
that the whole man is to be yielded up as an offering to the Lord.

If you would understand this
character of devotedness, you must study and master chapter 6 of Romans. There
we learn that Christians are, first of all, to reckon themselves "dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (6:11).
We are brought into this position by death and resurrection ,as set forth in
baptism, in virtue of the finished work of Christ. "Therefore we are
buried with him by baptism unto death, that like as Christ was raised up from
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life" (6:4). Baptism is the symbol of Christians having part with Christ
in death. He died for sin, and they died to sin in His death. This is the grand
fundamental truth of entire devotedness and practical holiness. "How shall
we who are dead to sin live any longer therein?" (6:2). Such is the
reasoning of the Spirit of God. All true Christians believe that Christ died for
our sins, but comparatively few believe or enter into the truth that we died
to sin in His death.

The consequences of not
apprehending this plain truth is occupation with self in all things. Whether it
be the young believer longing after peace with God, or the advanced believer
straining after holiness and perfection, they are looking for it within. The
eye is turned inward in search after feelings, or a consciousness of having
arrived at a higher state of Christian life.

Coming back again to chapter 12,
the idea of sacrifice is surely that of entire consecration—of body, soul, and
spirit. The devoted victim under the law was slain and laid on God’s altar. It
was an act of complete surrender. Christians are to present their own
"bodies" as a "living sacrifice" in contrast with
the sacrifices of the law that were put to death. It is self-sacrifice, and
"with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Heb. 13:16). And it is
the only sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to Him now.

"And be not conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what
is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God" (Rom. 12:2). The
connection between the first and second verses is beautiful. We have the body
in the one and the mind in the other; the whole man is brought in. We are also
reminded thereby that mere bodily exercise, though consisting in the diligent
observance of rites and ceremonies, would profit nothing without the renewal of
the mind. The inner as well as the outer man must be formed morally for God and
His service. Hence the one grand end for the Christian to gain is the
discernment of the will of God; and the highest expression of Christian life in
this world is the life that is most perfectly subject to the divine will. We
have to prove—though we may be long in doing so—that this and this only is
good, acceptable, perfect, and well pleasing in His sight.

"And be not conformed to this
world." This is a difficult lesson to learn. To be personally in a place
where the habits and opinions of men rule, and yet to be outside of it morally
where the will of God rules, is our lesson. Nothing but the grace of God and a
close walk with Him could make us triumph here. The secret of our strength is
the knowledge of Christ and the heart’s occupation with Him.

"But be transformed by the
renewing of your mind." We have briefly glanced at the negative side of
the second verse—non-conformity to the world, separateness from its maxims and
ways. We now come to the positive side—the renewing of the mind. This is all
important. It is the renewal of the whole inner man, the deep springs of the
heart which only the eye of God can see. He looks for the renewal of the
understanding, affections, and will. Our old ideas which ruled the mind before
we knew God and His Christ must all be given up, and new thoughts, new motives,
new objects, new feelings, new intentions, springing from our one new
object—Christ in the glory—must have full sway over all the faculties of the
mind as well as over all the members of the body. There must be a complete
transformation within and without by the renewing of the mind. The Christian is
a new man in Christ, "which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him
who created him" (Col. 1:10).

Without the inward renewal which
the apostle here insists upon, there could be no discernment of the mind of God
and no real separation from the world. The outward difference between the
believer and the man of the world must flow from the condition of the mind as
renewed and strengthened by grace. Otherwise, it would be the merest formality.
The path of separation is too narrow for the natural eye to discern. No broad
lines are laid down in the Word of God to mark the Christian’s way through this
world; the spiritual eye alone can see the way out of it.

The calling and responsibility of
the Christian, then, is to "prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect will of God." This is to be our one grand object as to the whole
path of our service in this world. How is this end to be gained? By
like-mindedness to Christ. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in
Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5). If we are to walk so as to please God, we must
walk even as Christ walked (1 John 2:6).

The measure of the soul’s
obedience to the will of God is Christ; He must be the one object before the
mind. But to prove that will practically, we must be whole-hearted for
Him, and be strengthened by the power of His grace acting on the renewed mind.
Christian devotedness is thus complete when the whole man is consecrated to the
Lord and laid upon His altar. The body is yielded up, the mind is transformed,
the will of God is discerned, and the man as a whole is devoted to God.

Elsewhere the apostle prays for
the complete sanctification of the entire man:"And the very God of peace
sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be
preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess.
5:23). In this remarkable passage, it is the expressed will of God that those
who have been saved through grace, and brought into relationship with himself,
should be entirely consecrated to Him. This, surely, is devotedness without
limit. It is the will of our God that the Christian, in every part of his
being, should be wholly sanctified or consecrated to himself. What grace, what
love, what goodness! It is overwhelming! As water rises to its level, so God
would have us, in every though of our minds, in every part of our being, rise
to Himself as our proper object, resource, and rest.

Oh fellow Christians, we may well
give up the tinseled vanities of time for the glories of eternity! But even now
we know our place in the glory. Christ in His Person and in His present
position in the presence of God is the expression of our place there. Every
believer has his place before God in Christ and in the righteousness of God
which He accomplished in Christ, having glorified Himself in that obedient,
blessed One. And now God would have all who are brought into this relationship
with Himself, to have no object before our minds but Christ in the glory, so
that we may do His will, and be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ.

Lord, be Thou unto me, I pray,

My blest companion day by day.

Be to me as my vital breath,

The One o’er all, in life, in
death,

The One to whom my soul shall
cling

In joy or sorrow, while I sing.

Sing of Thy love for such as I,

That led Thee to the cross to
die;

To cleanse me from all sin and
guilt,

By Thy most precious blood, thus
spilt.

Oh, be to me my staff and stay,

My guard by night, my guide by
day.

And let me not plan any thing

Apart from Thee, but I would
bring

All things to Thee continually,

The things that are too hard for
me;

From henceforth I’d no burden
bear,

But cast on Thee my every care.

(From Help
and Food, Vol. 47.)

"Be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable,
and perfect will of God" (Rom. 12:2).

Being saved is not a matter of
receiving Christ into our life as we often hear it. It is receiving an entirely
new life in Christ Jesus. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature
[or creation]:old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new" (2 Cor. 5:17).

Many people, when they are saved,
make a change in certain outward behaviors according to what other, more mature
Christians teach them. So, for example, they stop smoking and drinking and
dancing and start reading their Bibles and praying and attending the meetings
of the assembly. But Christianity is much more than making changes in
activities. Being a Christian involves a total transformation, a renewing, a
reprogramming of our mind. Our basic thinking patterns need to be
straightened out, our responses to other people’s bad (and good) behavior
revised, our attitudes toward our spouse, children, parents, friends,
neighbors, and brothers and sisters in Christ needs to be changed. Our minds
need to be reprogrammed so we can begin to say like the apostle Paul, "We
have the mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:16).

Let us consider a number of ways
in which we need to experience the renewing of our minds.

                     From Proud to Humble

"Be clothed with humility,
for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time"
(1 Pet. 5:5,6; also Psa. 138:6). "Let this mind be in you, which was also
in Christ Jesus:… He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:5-8).

What do the following statements
have in common? Do you ever say or think anything like them?

1. "I am not going to let him
get the better of me, or let her get away with saying that to me."

2. "He is not going to tell me
what to do.

3. "I want everyone in this
house to know that I am the boss and I am not going to tolerate any
insubordination."

4. (After pronouncing a word
incorrectly):"What will people think?"

5. (In an assembly meeting):
"I am going to keep my mouth shut; that will keep me from saying something
wrong."

6. (After winning a game of
Scrabble):"What’s the matter? You didn’t do so well tonight, did
you!"

7. (After losing a game of
Scrabble):"You sure are lucky; you got all the good letters."

8. (After being called out in a
close play at first base):"You’re blind! I was safe!"

9. "I am truly humbled to be given
this award."

What do these have in common? They
are all expressions of the pride of our hearts. Even number 9, while it may
sound humble, can often be a statement of pride. For example, a local
professional ball player spoke these words upon receiving an award. If he had
been truly humbled, he would not have demanded a $3 million dollar per year
salary increase a few months later.

The one whose mind has been
transformed from pride to humility may respond in ways like these:

1. (When criticized):Yes, you are
right; I was wrong."

2. (After being called out in a
close play at first base):"Wow, that was a great catch you made,
Buddy."

3. (After receiving a compliment
or an award):"Praise the Lord! He gave me the ability, and besides, lots
of others helped me."

4. "What can I do to show the
love of Christ to my office mate who is always saying nasty things to me?"

5. (After saying or doing
something stupid in public):"Lord, help me to be more wise and careful;
and help me not to crawl into a shell just because I made a mistake."

We lingered extra long on this
first area of transformation because of the subtlety of pride and the
difficulty of recognizing it in ourselves. We shall be much more brief in
defining the rest of the areas in which our minds need to be renewed.

                 From Wanting to be Waited on

                  to Wanting to Serve Others

"He who is greatest among
you, let him be as the younger; and he who is chief, as he who serves"
(Luke 22:26). "Jesus … began to wash the disciples’ feet…. If I then,
your Lord and Maser, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one
another’s feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have
done to you" (John 13:3-18). "Christ Jesus … took upon Him the form
of a servant" (Phil. 2:5-7). "By love serve one another" (Gal.
5:13).

Husbands, what is your attitude
toward some of your wife’s home duties? Do you regard fixing your
supper, washing your dirty dishes, ironing your shirts, vacuuming
your living room, or changing your baby’s diaper as being beneath
your dignity? Do you enjoy serving and helping your wife as much as you enjoy
having her serve and help you? Do you enjoy serving the Lord as much as you
enjoy having Him serve and help you and answer your prayers?

                      From Pleasing Self

                      to Pleasing Others

"We then who are strong ought
to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one
of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased
not Himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of those who reproached Thee
fell on Me" (Rom. 15:1-3).

                  From Selfish, Indifferent,

                     and Hateful to Loving

"Charity [or love] … seeks
not her own" (1 Cor. 13:5). "Every one who hates his brother is a
murderer…. Hereby have we known love, because He has laid down His life for
us; and we ought for the brethren to lay down our lives. But whoso may have the
world’s substance, and see his brother having need, and shut up his bowels from
him, how abides the love of God in him?" (1 John 3:15-17). "Love one
another; as I have loved you, you also love one another" (John 13:34).
"Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and has given Himself for us an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor" (Eph. 5:2).

Hate is not the only opposite of
love. As seen in 1 John 3:16,17, another opposite of love is indifference. And
since love is self-sacrificing by its very nature, a third opposite of love is
selfishness as seen in 1 Cor. 13:5.

              From Covetous, Getting, and Stingy

                    to Giving and Merciful

"Let covetousness not be once
named among you, as becomes saints … for … no … covetous man, who is an
idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God" (Eph.
5:3,5). "Shall I then take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have
killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom I know not whence they
be?" (1 Sam. 25:11). "Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let
him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have to
give to him who has need" (Eph. 4:28). "Give to every man who asks of
you … and lend, hoping for nothing again…. Be therefore merciful, as your
Father is merciful" (Luke 6:30-36).

                   From Gloomy and Depressed

                           to Joyful

"Hannah … was in bitterness
of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore…. And Hannah prayed and
said, My heart rejoices in the LORD … I rejoice in Thy salvation" (1
Sam. 1:9,10; 2:1). "Comfort the faint-hearted" (1 Thess. 5:14 JND).
"Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice" (Phil. 4:4).

                  From Unthankful to Thankful

"When they knew God, they
glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful" (Rom. 1:21). "In the
last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be … unthankful" (2
Tim. 3:1,2). "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts
with praise:be thankful unto Him, and bless His name" (Psa. 100:4).
"In every thing give thanks" (1 Thess. 5:18). "Giving thanks
always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ" (Eph. 5:20).

The unthankful spirit so prevalent
in the world today comes from the attitude, "I deserve it, so why should I
say `thank you’?" On one occasion, Jesus healed ten lepers, but only one
turned back "and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his
face at [Jesus’] feet, giving Him thanks" (Luke 17:15,16). That thankful
man received an unexpected bonus:"Your faith has made you whole [that is,
spiritually as well as physically]" (verse 19).

              From Anxious, Worried, and Fearful

                   to Peaceful and Prayerful

"Do not be careful [full of
care] about your life, what you should eat and what you should drink, nor for
your body what you should put on" (Matt. 6:25-34 JND).  "Why are you
so fearful … and they feared exceedingly…. And they were afraid…. The
woman, fearing and trembling,… told Him all the truth…. Be not afraid, only
believe" (Mark 4:40,41; 5:15,33,36). "Be careful [full of care] for
nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus"
(Phil. 4:6,7). "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you"
(John 14:27).

                 From Quarrelsome to Peaceable

"Put off … anger, wrath,
malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth…. Forbearing one
another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any….
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts" (Col. 3:8,13,15).
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of
God" (Matt. 5:9).

There are at least three ways we
can be peacemakers:

1. We can keep from teasing and
kidding (Prov. 26:18,19; Eph. 5:4), provoking (Eph. 6:4), and striving (2 Tim.
2:24) with one another, and "follow after the things that make for
peace" (Rom. 14:19).

2. We can seek to make peace with
our enemies (Matt. 5:44; Rom. 12:18-21) or help two warring parties to be
reconciled (1 Cor. 7:11).

3. We can "preach the gospel
of peace" (Rom. 10:15) so that souls might be "justified by
faith" and thus "have peace with God" (Rom. 5:1).

                From Impatient to Longsuffering

"Charity [or love] suffers
long … endures all things" (1 Cor. 13:4,7). "Put on …
longsuffering" (Col. 3:12; Eph. 4:2). "Be patient toward all
men" (1 Thess. 5:14; 2 Tim. 2:24).

              From Angry and Bitter to Forgiving

"Looking diligently … lest
any root of bitterness springing up trouble you" (Heb. 12:15). "Let
not the sun go down upon your wrath…. Let all bitterness, and wrath … be
put away from you, with all malice, and be kind one to another, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you"
(Eph. 4:26,31,32). "Put off … anger, wrath … forgiving one
another" (Col. 3:8,13). "[Love] thinks no evil" (1 Cor. 13:5);
this could appropriately be translated, "Love does not keep an account of
the evil done to one," or in short, "Love does not hold a
grudge."

                 From Controlling to Yielding,

                         Kind, Gentle

"I wrote unto the church, but
Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us
… neither does he receive the brethren, and forbids those who would, and
casts them out of the church" (3 John 9,10). "Let your moderation [or
yieldingness] be known unto all men" (Phil. 4:5). "Be kind one to
another" (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:12).

                From Apathetic to Helpful, Good

"Apathetic" means
unmoved or not interested. In today’s language, it is an attitude of "I
can’t be bothered:let George do it." "Let us not sleep, as do others;
but let us watch and be sober…. Edify [or build up] one another" (1
Thess. 5:6,11).

"There came down a certain
priest that way; and when he saw [the wounded man], he passed by on the other
side. And likewise a Levite … came and looked on him, and passed by on the
other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was; and
when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his
wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him
to an inn, and took care of him" (Luke 10:30-34).

Notice that the word
"good" is never specifically used in this story of "the good
Samaritan." However, every action of the Samaritan toward the robbed and
wounded man help to define the word "good." The word "good"
in the New Testament does not mean the same thing as "righteous"; it
is not the opposite of "bad" or "unrighteous." It means
being helpful and beneficial to others.

                 From Hypocritical to Sincere

"Hypocrisy" is
pretending to be something different from what you really are.

"Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! for you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make
long prayer…. You pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted
the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith" (Matt.
23:13-36). The fatal sin of Ananias and Sapphira was that of pretending
to give all of the proceeds of the land sale to the apostles (Acts
5:1-10). "Let love be without dissimulation [or hypocrisy]" (Rom.
12:9). "Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through
the Spirit unto unfeigned [or unhypocritical] love of the brethren, see that
you love one another with a pure heart fervently" (1 Pet. 1:22). "In
simplicity and godly sincerity … we have had our conversation [or manner of
life] in the world" (2 Cor. 1:12). "That you may be sincere and
without offense till the day of Christ" (Phil. 1:10).

The Greek word for
"sincere" is literally "judged by the sun." The English
word "sincere" is from the Latin words, sine and cera,
meaning "without wax." In Bible times, makers of pottery used a waxy
substance to cover fine cracks in their earthenware. The crack was detectable
only if one held the vessel up to the light. Thus the sellers of the finest
pottery might have had signs saying, "Sincere-ware sold here." In
other words, buyers could hold the pieces up to the sun and be reassured that
there were no hidden cracks. A truly sincere person is one whose private life,
if held up to public scrutiny, would be found to be as exemplary as his/her
public life.

                      From Unbelieving to

                      Trusting, Faithful

"He marveled because of their
unbelief" (Mark 6:6). "Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief"
(Mark 9:24). "We walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7).
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not unto you own
understanding" (Prov. 3:5).

                       From Deceitful to

                      Truthful and Honest

"Deceive not with your
lips" (Prov. 24:28). "Deceit and guile depart not from her
streets" (Psa. 55:11). "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man
truth with his neighbor" (Eph. 4:25). "[Speak] the truth in love"
(Eph. 4:15). "Provide things honest in the sight of all men" (Rom.
12:17).

               From Macho to Meek and Confessing

"And the king [Rehoboam]
answered the people roughly … saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I
will add to your yoke; my father also chastised you with whips, but I will
chastise you with scorpions" (1 Ki. 12:13,14). "Miriam and Aaron
spoke against Moses…. Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men
which were upon the face of the earth…. Miriam became leprous, white as
snow…. And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, Heal [Miriam] now, O God, I
beseech Thee" (Num. 12:1-13). "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly
in heart" (Matt. 11:28). "Father forgive them, for they know not what
they do" (Luke 23:34). "Put on … meekness" (Col. 3:12).
"Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for
those who despitefully use you and persecute you" (Matt. 5:44).
"Confess your faults one to another" (Jas. 5:16).

The macho man does not admit to
any wrong or any weakness, and is quick to take vengeance against any offense
against himself. The meek man is quick to confess his wrongdoings, both to God
and to those whom he has wronged, and leaves vengeance to the Lord (Rom.
12:19).

                        From Fearful to

                      Bold and Courageous

"[Peter] began to curse and
swear, saying, I do not know this Man of whom you speak" (Mark 14:71).
"Peter … lifted up his voice and said unto them … Jesus of Nazareth
… you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain…. God …
has glorified His Son Jesus, whom you delivered up … and killed the Prince of
life" (Acts 2:14-36; 3:13-26). "[The authorities] commanded [Peter
and John] not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and
John answered and said unto them … We cannot but speak the things which we have
seen and heard…. We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts. 4:18-20;
5:27-32).

                 From Prejudiced to Impartial

"How is it that Thou, being a
Jew, askest drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no
dealings with the Samaritans" (John 4:9). In "the new man … there
is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian,
bond nor free:but Christ is all and in all" (Col. 3:9-11). "My
brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with
respect of persons" (Jas. 2:1-5). "The wisdom that is from above is
… without partiality" (Jas. 3:17).

               From Out-of-Control to Temperate

"In the last days … men
shall be incontinent [or intemperate or out-of-control]" (2 Tim. 3:1,3).
"The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly
poison" (Jas. 3:8). "I keep my body under and bring it into
subjection" (1 Cor. 9:27). "If any man offend not in word, the same
is … able also to bridle the whole body" (Jas. 3:2).

                    Concluding Observations

Did you notice how often the
verses in Ephesians and Colossians about putting off and putting on were
referenced? This surely fits in with the idea of a total transformation taking
place in one who is saved.

Finally, if we go down through the
section headings, we will notice the need to be transformed to
"loving" (section 4), "joyful," "peaceful,"
"peaceable," "longsuffering," "gentle,"
"good," "faithful," "meek," and
"temperate" (last section before this one). Do you remember seeing
these words in another setting? Yes, they are the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit
of Gal. 5:22,23. One of the chief ways the Holy Spirit transforms us by the
renewing of our minds is by ministering to us the qualities, characteristics,
and Person of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 16:14,15). When we truly receive the
Spirit’s ministry of Christ to us, it is expressed in our lives as the fruit of
the Spirit.

Let us each read through the
section headings once again with the thought of asking ourselves if there are
one or two areas where we need further renewing of our mind. Let us not be
satisfied with a standard less than this:"We have the mind of
Christ" (1 Cor. 2:16).

Elijah was an
inhabitant of Gilead, a city noted for its wickedness. As a solitary witness he
stood for God and rebuked the throne on which sat one of the most wicked of
Israel’s kings (1 Ki. 16:33).

Elijah had the
strength to do this because the Lord had commanded him. It is necessary for us
to be thus dependent on the Word of the Lord if we desire to do His will. After
speaking to others and exhorting them to obey the Word of the Lord only, the
preacher is (and ought to be) exercised himself. The Lord takes him aside and
asks, “Are you dependent on Me as you have been telling others to be? Do you
believe I will supply all your need? Are you troubled in these trials,
or do you cast all on Me?” So the Lord speaks to the speaker.

After Elijah
gave his public testimony, the LORD directed him, “Turn eastward, and hide
yourself by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan” (1 Ki. 17:5). The Lord
promised to sustain him by extraordinary means—by impossible means, we should
say—for the brook was fed by rainfall that had been stopped as Ahab’s
punishment, and the ravens were the most unlikely birds to bring him food. They
are specially spoken of as crying for meat in Job 38:41 and Psa. 147:9. They
are also noted for eating carrion, and so would naturally be repulsive to
Elijah.

What a test of
faith it was for Elijah to dwell by the brook Cherith which daily grew smaller.
It was close by the much larger Jordan River, but he must stay here and must
not go there because it was the word of the Lord. Do you realize what it meant
to him and means to us? We, like Elijah, are to stay just where the Lord would
have us, in separation from all, alone, beside a brook that will surely dry up
because its sources have been cut off, in full view of the Jordan (which speaks
of judgment). Do we have a brook on which we depend? It must dry up and fail,
but the Lord who placed us there knows this and will make provision when it
does. Are we content to be thus waiting for “the word of the Lord” when it
looks foolish to stay?

When the brook
did dry up the Lord put Elijah’s faith to a further test and sent him to
Zarephath, a city of Zidon (a Gentile city), to a widow woman who did not have
enough food for herself. Indeed, when Elijah asked her for food her need was
revealed; she said she had only “a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil
in a cruse” and was about to prepare her last meal and die. But Elijah said,
“Make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for
you and for your son. For thus says the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal
shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail until the day that the
LORD sends rain upon the earth.” (1 Ki. 17:12-14).

The widow did
this; she had faith to provide for God’s representative first, and her own
needs were satisfied, not only for the present but for the immediate future
also. Notice that she spoke of “a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil
in the cruse,” but the LORD God of Israel referred to it as “the barrel
of meal” and “the cruse of oil.” Do we put the Lord’s interests first as
this widow did? Do we? If we do, then He will look after our interests.

“Bring all the
tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in My house, and prove Me
now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of
heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to
receive it” (Mal. 3:10).

“Seek ye first
the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added
unto you” (Matt. 6:33).

A little boy
once said to his mother when things were at low ebb:“Oh, mother, I believe God
waits until He hears the scraping of the bottom of the barrel.” And He does
hear. He is the all-sufficient One. May we just trust, and make use of faith’s
keys, and “The barrel of meal shall not waste and the cruse of oil shall not
fail.”

(From Help
and Food, Vol. 46.)

                             *
* *

May we thus, in God confiding,

And from self‑dependence
free,

Find our rest—in Christ abiding—

Till with joy Himself we see.

                                              Philip
Doddridge

1 John 2:13-27

Let us look for a few moments at the question of growth as
the apostle puts it before us here. The spiritual growth of a babe into a man
is produced in two ways. First, God in His discipline sets trials and
circumstances before the soul. These trials serve to awaken the heart and mind
of the believer, leading him out of various forms of selfishness and
worldliness and into a greater sense of God’s grace and goodness. Second, God
shows us His perfect example of what he would have us grow up to and the soul
is stimulated and encouraged to imitate this example. God puts Christ before us
that we may grow up into Christ (Eph. 4:15).

            The admonition, therefore, of the apostle to the
babes and young men-to the fathers he has none-is to let nothing take away
their eyes from Christ. He warns the babes as to antichrist, not that he may
perfect them in prophetical knowledge, but because in their little acquaintance
as yet with the truth of what Christ is, they might be led away into some
deceit of the enemy. Satan’s first snare for souls is some distorting error
that deforms to us the face of Christ in which alone all the glory of God
shines, or which substitutes for His face some counterfeit for the natural eye.
Through the subtlety of Satan, the heart becomes entangled unawares with this
substitute, supposing it to be the true and divine object. This is antichrist,
though not yet the full denial of the Father and the Son. “Even now there are
many antichrists” (1 John 2:18). Oh, that Christians would realize more the
immense value of truth! And the terrible and disastrous effect of error!

            The apostle therefore warns the babes as to
false Christs. The young men are not in the same danger as to this. They are strong,
the word of God abides in them, and they have overcome the wicked one. Their
danger now lies in the allurements of a world into which their very energy is
carrying them. The word to these is, “Love not the world, neither the things
that are in the world” (2:15). It is one thing to have seen by the Word that
the world is under judgment, and another thing to have viewed it in detail,
counting it all loss for Christ (Phil. 3:7,8)).

            This, however, the fathers have done; therefore
he says to them-and it is all he needs to say-“You have known Him who is from
the beginning” (2:13,14). There is nothing we gain by examining the world
except to be able to say of it, “How unlike Christ it is!” This the fathers
have learned. And what do we do when we have reached this? Has the “father”
nothing more to learn? Oh, yes, he is but at the beginning. He has only now his
lesson book before him for undistracted learning. But he does not need to be
cautioned in the same way against mixing anything with Christ. How much toil to
reach, and how slow we are in reaching, so simple a conclusion! But then the
joy of eternity begins. Oh, to have Him ever before us, unfolding His glories,
as He does to one whose eyes and whose heart are all for Him! The knowledge of
the new man is, “Christ is all!”