There has never been a time in
the world’s history when the Word of God has been so readily available as
today; yet we know of no other time when unrest, lawlessness, and revolution
have been so widespread. We can attribute this alarming state to the setting
aside of this very Book and its teachings. Men persist, however unknowingly, in
a course leading to self-destruction, being led on by "the wicked one."
This course of things is clearly marked out in the Scriptures and so we are not
surprised to see it.

 

On the other hand, what is the
cause of the widespread spiritual decline among the Lord’s people, evidenced by
carelessness and indifference in spiritual matters? One sees as a common thing
the letting go of many precious truths which has resulted in many believers
becoming worldly and losing sight of their heavenly hope. A reason for this may
be that believers act against that which they consciously know to be the Lord’s
mind and will as revealed in God’s Word. In so doing a good conscience is set
aside. This causes incalculable damage to the soul, opening the door to
everything that is destructive to a heavenly life and testimony. It relates not
only to conduct but to unsound teaching also.

           

Let us trace this course of
things from its beginning to its very sad end.

 

"All the counsel of
God" was the burden of Paul’s ministry to the Ephesians. "For three
years, night and day, I ceased not admonishing each one [of you] with
tears" (Acts 20:27, 31; all references in this article are from the JND
translation). Imagine sitting under such holy ministry godly care as that for
three years! Oh what blessing they must have received! How edifying it must
have been!

 

In the course of time, Paul
later wrote Timothy at Ephesus to "enjoin some not to teach other
doctrines, nor to turn their minds to fables and interminable
genealogies." (1 Tim. 1:3,4). Why was such a charge necessary if Paul had
previously established them so thoroughly at Ephesus? "The end of what is
enjoined is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned
faith" (1 Tim. 1:5). This describes the proper spiritual condition that is
needed if we are to maintain truth and to practice godliness. The next verse
says, "which [things] some having missed, have turned aside to vain
discourse." This answers our question. If a good conscience is not
maintained as well as love and faith, even the best instruction will not
preserve us from the snares and pitfalls that the enemy is permitted to lay in
our path.

 

Next we see that the
"some" who "turned aside" became Judaizers and in ignorance
of God’s grace introduced "law." It is not "the law" which
is introduced, but "law"; that is, the principle which is opposed to
grace. Such preaching is described as "vain discourse" (v. 6). This
is not a ministry of love or edification, but is a misuse of law, as the
context of the verses following clearly shows. The law, as a principle, is
properly used as a sword for the conscience in convicting the ungodly of their
sins. The law, as a principle, is not meant to be used for the Lord’s people
for it is not edifying. But these law-teachers, who have missed "love out
of a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith," have
introduced this misuse of law and thereby have displaced edifying ministry.

           

It is easy to see that this is a
declining pathway and it descends still further. In verse 6 "a good
conscience" was "missed," and now in verse 19 this is "put
away," a much more definite thing with a more serious result:"which
[last] some, having put away, have made shipwreck as to faith." So the
good conscience that is needed for "maintaining faith" is put away
and the door is opened through which Satan can come with wicked and destructive
doctrines. Let it be understood that FAITH IN CHRIST is not lost, nor indeed
can it be; but the power of our Christian lives which is that precious personal
confidence and fellowship that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ can be lost. Such
is the case of the two named in verse 20, Hymenaeus and Alexander. Sad
notoriety indeed!

 

Continuing in this sad vein, we
read in 2 Timothy 2:17-18 that Hymenaeus along with Philetus are the
instruments of Satan for the introduction of a wicked and destructive doctrine.
"Their word will spread as a gangrene; of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
[men] who as to the truth have gone astray, saying that the resurrection has
taken place already; and overthrow the faith of some." Notice that it is
not a denial of the fact of the resurrection, but a perversion of the truth by
their teaching that it had already taken place. If the resurrection be past we
are robbed of our heavenly hope. The best we have left is this world. Then we
must devote our energies, our abilities, and our wealth to its causes. We must
join all the associations dedicated to self-improvement and world-improvement.
We must cater to the flesh in its seeking of pleasure and comfort. We are then
become as those described in Revelation 3:10 "them that dwelt upon the
earth." Their hopes are earthly for they have no faith. Such cannot rise
above this world. These will face the wrath of God when His judgments are in
the earth, thus losing all that they value, things temporal and earthly. So, if
the resurrection be past then neither do the Lord’s people have anything beyond
this scene. This wickedness is termed "gangrene" which overthrew
"the faith of some," and so it spread in that day. But how much more
it has spread today! Christendom is a vivid picture showing the result of this
destructive doctrine. What a solemn responsibility they have who not only
turned aside themselves but are responsible for others being turned aside.

 

How necessary it is then that we
maintain "faith and a good conscience"; thus shall our work be made
manifest at the judgment seat of Christ as "gold, silver, precious
stones" (1 Cor. 3:12) to the glory of His name.

 

In view of all of the foregoing,
some, however, might conclude that one must as the world says, "Let his
conscience be his guide." Now this subtle maxim of worldly wisdom is to be
utterly rejected on the basis of the Word of God itself.

 

The apostle Paul’s own life
before His conversion is an example of one being guided by one’s conscience.
Paul, in Galatians 1:13-14 says, "I excessively persecuted the assembly of
God, and ravaged it … being exceedingly zealous of the doctrines of my
fathers"; in Philippians 3:6 "As to zeal, persecuting the
assembly"; in 1 Timothy 1:13 "who before was a blasphemer and
persecutor, and an insolent overbearing [man]:but mercy was shown me because 1
did it ignorantly, in unbelief"; and finally in Acts 23:1, " have
walked in all good conscience with God unto this day." Paul, who was Saul
of Tarsus before his conversion, with a fiery zeal and a good conscience wasted
the assembly thus persecuting Christ. This he did as a service to God! But his
conscience could never have led him to the truth that Jesus is the Christ. His
course of action was as contrary to God’s way as it could be, even though he
was going that way in all sincerity. What was it then that changed his course?
On the road to Damascus he was arrested by the vision of the Lord Jesus in His
resurrection glory. He thus received the light of the truth as to Christ and
acted upon this henceforward. Paul thus became the instrument of Christ in
establishing the assembly rather than being its waster. So he found mercy and
grace and became a pattern of the long-suffering of God to those who would afterward
believe (1 Tim. 1:13-16).

 

In summing up, we believe that
the conscience should be formed not by our own natural thoughts or even
religious ones but by the Word of God. Further, the conscience is to be
maintained in its purity by obedience to the Word of God. This is the secret of
our spiritual growth, of our grasping "even the depths of God," and
of our having a powerful testimony in the face of the abounding wickedness of
this world.

EXTRACT

 

Letting
go of the truth we become occupied with fables and interminable genealogies
which appeal to reason, and only occupy the mind with questions, but do not
lead to godly edifying which is in faith. "Endless genealogies" are
as pleasing to the natural mind as to religious flesh, for they shut out God
and make much of man. Such genealogies assume that all blessing is a process of
development from one generation to another. For this reason, the religious Jew
made a great deal of his genealogy. So, too, the man of the world, with his
science falsely so-called, seeks to shut out faith in a creator by speculative
theories which view everything in creation as a gradual and evolutionary
development of one thing from another. Human speculation, appealing to reason,
can only raise "questions" which leave the soul in darkness and
doubt. Divine truth, appealing to conscience and faith, can alone give
certainty and godly edification.

"For the preaching of the
cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the
power of God…. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after
wisdom" (1 Cor. 1:18, 22).

 

To the
natural mind, whether Jew or Gentile, wisdom and signs are displays of the
power of God. But power with God is that which seems weakness or foolishness
with men. There are two signs which God gives in Scripture. "And this
shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12). What could be weaker in man’s eyes than a
babe lying in a manger? Yet there is even a deeper sign of weakness—a dead man.
"A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign shall
not be given to it save the sign of Jonas the prophet. For even as Jonas was in
the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, thus shall the Son of
man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights" (Matt.
12:39, J.N.D. trans.). The expression of absolute weakness is a man in death.
Yet through a Man in death we are saved. He was rejected by everybody, betrayed
by a false friend, denied by a true one, forsaken by God, and on the cross
"crucified through weakness" (2 Cor. 13:4). "Christ crucified
[is] to Jews an offense, and to nations foolishness; but to those that [are]
called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ God’s power and God’s wisdom" (1 Cor.
1:23, 24, J. N. D. trans.).

It is quite clear the apostle
Jude writes for and contemplates the last state of things:what comes under the
Lord’s eye, and what the saints have to meet. He is showing that the resources
are the same even to the very end when such a state of things arrives as is
depicted in the earlier verses of this epistle. This we see thoroughly
fulfilled in the history and present condition of the Church. But the Spirit of
God gives us a word of cheer to carry us on at this time when things are
outwardly and inwardly so depressing.

 

Jude addresses the faithful
saying "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith,
praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the
mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." Four sweet words—"building,"
"praying," "keeping," "looking."
"Building"—take care you do not pull down. What the Spirit prescribes
here is building; this is beautiful, because Jude is describing decay and
dissolution as the fruit of the corruption all around. Faith is peculiarly
sweet to the eye of the Lord when all is going to ruins. What is the warrant
for saints meeting together? "Building up yourselves."

 

Jude describes the end here, and
there is a resource which is competent for the state of things and enough to
keep the saints joyful. Joy in the Holy Ghost is the expected and suited state
of the saints always. Is it not to be the same now? Surely. As the history of
God’s people darkens, God ever raises a light; the deeper the darkness, the
brighter the light. This principle is clearly illustrated in the Old Testament,
and I turn to three scriptures which show that the greater the ruin the
brighter the light where faith was operative.

 

First, (2 Chronicles 30, 31)
things were bad in Hezekiah’s day with doors shut and lamps put out, but he
addresses all the people of God, and they came together and kept the passover
on the fourteenth day of the second month, taking advantage of a privilege God
allowed (see Num. 9:11).

           

"Great gladness"
prevailed, so they determined to have seven more days, and we read "they
kept other seven days with gladness" (30:23). Hezekiah got before the
Lord, and as a direct and natural consequence, "there was great joy in Jerusalem:for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem" (ver. 26).

 

The days were very prosperous in
Solomon’s reign, but these were even better. You find, too, that when all were
thoroughly happy before the Lord, they began to be occupied with the Lord’s
interests. The people brought in the tithe of all things
"abundantly," and the priests and Levites were "encouraged"
(31:4, 5). When they began to give, the Lord began to bless. As the joy in the
Lord rose, the interest in and care for His things increased, and
"heaps" meet the eye of the gladdened king (vers. 6-8). The Lord has
given us a brightening up many a time, but alas! how soon we sink down. So was
it also in Judah’s history.

 

Second, things got very low
indeed until Josiah’s time. Then there was another revival. Evil was judged (2
Chron. 34:3,7). Then "Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the
Lord," and "Shaphan read it before the king" (vers. 14,18). The
Word of God produced repentance and humbling, and thereafter "Josiah kept a
passover unto the Lord in Jerusalem" (2 Chron. 35:1). And the record is
given, "And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the
days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep
such a passover as Josiah kept" (ver. 18). It was the most remarkable
passover since the kingdom had been established. Not even Solomon’s could
approach it. What an encouragement for faith!

 

Third, enjoyed blessing would
not keep the soul since the eye was not single; so deeper failure followed; the
people wandered away again from God, and then were taken into captivity. God’s
grace, however, never gives up His own, and through mercy there was partial
recovery in Ezra’s time. A remarkable revival occurred and many returned from Babylon to God’s earthly center, Jerusalem. This is but a type of what has happened in our
days, in which the Lord has worked blessedly by His Spirit, reviving interest
in His Word and gathering back His saints to divine ground. Nehemiah, following
Ezra, began to build his wall. That was separation. Ezra built the temple,
Nehemiah the wall, and many true helpers had they. Nearly all were in the work,
sisters and all. Some built two bits, notably the Tekoites (Neh. 3:5, 27),
though of them it is said, "but their nobles put not their necks to the work
of their Lord" (ver. 5). But the Lord noticed every mark of devotedness
evidenced by repairing the wall, whether "Shallum … and his
daughters" (ver. 12), or Baruch, who "earnestly repaired’ (ver.
26), or the priests "every one over against his house" (ver. 28), or
Meshullam "over against his chamber" (ver. 30), for I suppose he was
but a lodger.

 

Again did the Word of the Lord
become precious, and was heeded (Neh. 8:1-8), and what good cheer it brought,
verses 9 and 10 indicate, as "this day is holy unto the Lord" twice
fell on their ears, and "the joy of the Lord is your strength" was
the trumpet call of the Spirit. "The joy of the Lord is your
strength." How beautiful! If our hearts are delighting in Christ there is
always strength and power, and understanding too. Next, they kept the feast of
tabernacles; they anticipated the millennium. In fact, there was more
apprehension of the mind of the Lord at this moment than there had ever been in
their previous history for "all the congregation of them that were come
again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths:for since the
days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done
so. And there was very great gladness" (ver. 17). Never in the brightest
day of kingly power did such a thing happen. I just show this principle in the
history of God’s people, that if there be faith and obedience and a desire to
follow His Word, the darker the day, the brighter will be the blessing. The
further into history you trace the ruin of Israel, the bolder does faith appear
in its action.

 

In Jude, which speaks of days of
Church ruin and failure, we are encouraged to expect great things, only if
faith be exercised. "Ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your
most holy faith." This evidently is the revelation of God—Christianity as
such—on which we are to build. The trowel is ever to be in the hand;
"building up," not pulling down, is our business. The Christian is
not an iconoclast—a destroyer of idols—but a builder, an unfolder and a living
expositor of the truth.

 

In Jude the Spirit of God is the
abiding source of power, realized by our having none, and therefore in
dependence we are to be found "praying in the Holy Ghost." Joy in the
Spirit is the result of our yielding ourselves unreservedly to the care and
guidance of this abiding Comforter of our hearts. Thus only shall we be kept to
the end walking in "the comfort of the Spirit"

 

"Keep yourselves in the
love of God." As born of God and objects of His love, you cannot help
loving. If one is kept in the enjoyment of the Lord’s love, love flows out
without effort; you cannot help it. No apple tree tries to grow apples. Do not
try to be anything; keep yourself in the love of God, and you will be like the
Son of God:you cannot help it. The atmosphere we live in will tell upon us,
just as the ointment of Aaron’s head went down to the skirts of his garments
and diffused an odor wherever he went (see Psa. 133). If we get near to the
Lord we shall carry away some of the savor of His presence. We always become
like the things with which we are occupied.

 

"Looking for the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ":this is not the Lord’s coming exactly, but the
effect of it. It is connected with our being taken out of this scene, and into
our home—heaven. We know we are welcome there—that it is our home. The Spirit
even now conducts our hearts there. Christ is there, and Paul was always
pressing thither by the pathway of resurrection from among the dead. It was his
goal. When you wake up in His likeness you will say, "Bless the Lord, His
mercy endureth for ever." The deepest desire of the heart will be
gratified when we reach the place to which the Lord is carrying us. It is the
greatest mercy the Lord can bestow upon us. We have to serve here and He is to
be manifested in us. But if every saint here were caught up today, each would
draw a deep breath and say, "Thank God, that is the greatest mercy I have
ever known; I am out of the world for ever, I am with the Lord and like Him and
shall never wander from or be unlike Him again." The Lord, in His grace,
keep us, and encourage our hearts to go on "looking."

 

How beautifully the epistle
closes with a doxology of triumph:"Now unto Him that is able to keep you
from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion
and power, both now and ever. Amen." Is not that thought lovely?
"With exceeding joy"—not ours, but the joy on Christ’s part, when He
presents to Himself that Church He has loved and cherished so faithfully these
hundreds of years. It will be the day of the gladness of His heart.

 

The Lord enable us to go on
"building" (do not drop the trowel!), "keeping,"
"praying in the Holy Ghost," and then "looking." That fills
up the whole life of the Christian and the next thing is that we find ourselves
gathered home in the cloudless perfection of His own presence.

 

FRAGMENT What God is, determines
what God does.

What
God does, proves what God is—Light and Love.

"No more a stranger"—Can that be

Thou speakest
thus, O God, of me

Whose heart was enmity and strife

Alienated from Thy life?

Thy covenants with Israel

Was I outside, and O, as well

Apart from Christ, apart from
Thee

A worldling, living hopelessly.

 

An outcast—for there was a bar

Twixt Israel "near," and
Gentiles "far"—

For in her commonwealth no share

Had I; of righteousness was bare

But now, though once far off, am
I

To Thee, O gracious God, brought
nigh

By Christ’s own precious blood
once given

United to the
Lord of Heaven.

 

Now to Thy household I belong

Though only one amid the throng

Of those that form Thy family

Thou thinkest,
gracious God, on me.

Eternal life do I possess

And, in Thy Spirit have access

Through Thy dear Son, O God, to
Thee

Him
face to face I soon shall see.

Our title is taken from Hebrews
12:24, where the blessings of Hebrew Christians are enumerated and contrasted
with those under the first covenant. Verse 18 declares that "ye are not
come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire,"
alluding to Mount Sinai and the first covenant. Verse 22 introduces our verse
as follows:"But ye are come … to Jesus the mediator of the new
covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that
of Abel" (Heb. 12:22, 24). In short, we are come "to Jesus" and
"to the blood of sprinkling." But the latter part of our verse,
"that speaketh better things than that of Abel," has given rise to
different interpretations. We propose to examine this verse with the desire of
accepting the most commendable interpretation.

 

It is of the first order of
importance, when our blessings in Hebrews are couched in the language of the Old
Testament types, to understand just what typical sacrifice is alluded to. In
this verse with the "mediator" and "the blood of
sprinkling" we can not fail to see that the type is of the covenant
sacrifices at the foot of Mount Sinai when "Moses took the blood, and
sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which
the Lord hath made with you" (Exodus 24:8). There "the blood of
sprinkling" was "of calves [bullocks] and of goats" (See Heb. 9:
19 & 12) which typified "the precious blood of Christ" which in
Hebrews is called "the blood of the everlasting covenant" (13:20). In
Exodus, Moses was the mediator and animals were the victims. But the apostle in
Hebrews has labored abundantly to show us that we are come "to Jesus the
mediator of the new covenant." The glories of this new covenant are future
and for "the house of Israel and . . . the house of Judah" (Heb. 8:8). But the Christian is already come "to Jesus" and is under the
blood and rejoicing in the blessings of that covenant. But how is it that
"the blood of sprinkling . . . speaketh better things than that of
Abel"?

 

Many have thought that Abel’s
human blood is referred to here. It is true that Abel, being righteous and slam
by the enmity of his brother, typified our Lord in His rejection and death at
the hands of His brethren. It is further true that God said to Cain "the
voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground" (Gen. 4:10).
The voice therefore of Abel’s human blood cried to God for vengeance. At. this
point many have been satisfied that "the blood of sprinkling" alludes
to Abel’s human blood and martyr’s death.

 

Now we have pondered, however,
whether Abel’s human blood typifies the blood of Christ in any sacrificial
sense. As a martyr it does. But as an offering presented to God we do not see
the type.

           

We are somewhat helped by the
more literal translation of J. N. Darby, who translates the verse "and to
Jesus, mediator of a new covenant; and to the blood of sprinkling, speaking
better than Abel" (Heb. 12:24). "Speaking better than Abel"
would recall our .attention to Hebrews 11:4 where "Abel offered unto God a
more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was
righteous, God testifying of his gifts:and by it he being dead yet speaketh."
Here we find Abel "speaking’ by his sacrifice and its blood —not his own.
Furthermore, Abel’s sacrifice (though not the first animal slain, for God must
have done so to get coats of skins) was the first animal sacrifice presented in
faith to God by man. That sacrifice stands therefore at the head of all such
victims and represents them all. Its acceptance prefigured God’s acceptance of
our Lord Jesus Christ’s finished work as well as declaring man’s approach to
God to be that of shed blood. Abel, by his offering, spoke of good things! But
"the blood of sprinkling" to which we are come, that blood of the new
and everlasting covenant, the blood of Christ, speaketh better than Abel by his
sacrifice!

 

This is further clarified when
we realize that the "blood of sprinkling" of the covenant sacrifices
in Exodus 24 spoke of good things also. This blood like that of Abel’s
sacrifice, both speaking good things, is far surpassed also by the
"better" blood of Christ.

 

We also note that
"better" is the comparative of "good," not "bad."
Abel’s human blood crying for vengeance hence cries for "bad." It
speaks of God bringing men into judgment, not dispensing mercy. Hebrews 10:1
declares that the law did foreshadow "good things to come." We do not
believe vengeance, for which Abel’s human blood cried, to be one of the
"good things to come." The blood of Christ is of course far better
than this which cries for vengeance. But the force of our verse (Heb. 12:24) is
that, even though Abel’s sacrifice did typify "good things to come,"
the blood to which we are come "speaketh better than Abel."

 

Not only are we come "to
the blood of sprinkling that speaketh" but the next verse warns us not to
refuse "Him that speaketh."

 

The blood speaks. A Person
speaks. Have you heard the message?

 

Lord! who can pay the mighty
debt

Of love so rich as Thine?

Love, which surpasseth finding
out,

Unspeakable, divine!

 

O rather give us, daily, more—

More every hour- —to see

That such a bounteous Giver
Thou,

We must
Thy debtors be.

"Many shall run to and fro,
and knowledge shall be increased" (Daniel 12:4).

 

This verse is very commonly
applied as if present day transportation, cars, fast trains, jet aircraft, and
outer space rocket ships were the answer to running "to and fro." The
great emphasis upon education all over the world and corresponding technological
advances are esteemed as fulfilling the last part of the verse, "knowledge
shall be increased." The two seem to go together as evident signs of
"the last days."

 

While fully agreeing that we are
living in the closing moments of the day of grace, we are not at all persuaded
that the Spirit of Christ in Daniel was signifying any such thoughts as the
above about running "to and fro" or "knowledge [being]
increased."

           

The Lord told Jeremiah,
"Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem" (Jer. 5:1). Again
in Amos 8:12 we read, "they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the
Lord, and shall not find it." Now these examples suggest not so much a
hurrying and scurrying of human activity but rather give us the thought of a
diligent investigation:Jeremiah was to run "to and fro" or simply to
diligently search Jerusalem to see "if there be any that executeth
judgment, that seeketh the truth." Through Amos, God was speaking of the
days when "I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a
thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:and they shall wander
from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro
[diligently investigate] to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find
it" (Amos 8:11, 12). But the angel who was speaking to Daniel said,
"But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the
time of the end:many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be
increased" (Dan. 12:4).

 

Amos was told of the hopeless
condition when God’s sore displeasure was yet upon Israel. Then even by running
to and fro or diligently searching the Scriptures, the meaning would be beyond
their grasp because of the God-sent famine of such knowledge. The book was then
sealed to their understanding. But in Daniel the book was to be sealed
"even to the time of the end." When that end time arrives, which is
yet future for Israel, they "shall diligently investigate" (per
footnote JND trans.) and "knowledge shall be increased." This
increase of knowledge has to do with the righteous of that coming day entering,
at last, into the true meaning of the Scriptures. Running "to and
fro" therefore is referring simply to making a diligent search of the
Scriptures which at the "time of the end" will be rewarded by an
increase in knowledge of the word of the Lord. We are persuaded that it has no
application at all to present day discoveries through research or higher
learning any more than running "to and fro" pertains to our speedy
travel and communications.

           

The present infatuation with
man’s mental powers and learning is alluded to by the Apostle Paul when he
wrote, "This know, that in the last days difficult times shall be there;
for men shall be … always learning, and never able to come to [the] knowledge
of [the] truth" (2 Tim. 3:1,7 JND). God speaks thus of "the last
days" in which we now live. Perhaps facts are accumulated and volumes of
research are compiled, but all these efforts do not bring men one bit closer to
"the truth" of our Lord Jesus Christ nor increase what our God calls
true "knowledge."

 

We are in the last days to be
sure. It becomes us all the more to rightly divide the word of truth, avoiding
such fanciful interpretations of Scripture as we have examined. Job was the
Lord’s, but he was still rebuked for "[darkening] counsel by words without
knowledge" (Job 38:2). Let us heed the admonition.