P. O. Box 1004
Hawkins, Texas 75765-1004
E-mail: ccmorris@the-remnant.com
Sanctification, by Elder Bruce Atkisson
Tares and Treasures: Matthew
13.36-50: Parables 5, 6, and 7, by C. C.
Morris
Restitution (Acts 3.21), by Elder H. H. Lefferts
By
Elder
Bruce Atkisson
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love (Ephesians
1.3-4).
How
delightful the above text
appears to the children of grace. This
text is often associated with the election or choice of God’s people in Christ
from all eternity. What joy wells up in
the hearts of the trembling children of grace when made to feel that this text
embraces them. However, it seems that
some overlook a portion of this scripture.
Some seem to disregard the fact that God has chosen the elect in Christ
to be holy and without blame before Him in love. The choice of these
individuals by God the Father to a state of holiness before Him is correctly
called sanctification.
Sanctification, as defined in Scripture, is the
setting apart of something or someone for a holy use, or to make a person or
thing pure. Thus, the choice of the
Father of the children in Christ is their being set apart or being consecrated
to purity or holiness and made blameless.
“Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that
are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called
(Jude 1.1).” “But know that the LORD
hath set apart him that is godly for Himself… (Psalm 4.3).” None are godly but those whom the Lord makes
so.
The elect are sanctified by the active and
passive obedience of the Son of God. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of
God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption (1 Corinthians 1.30).” It
can be truly said that Jesus is the sanctification of all of those for whom He
died. He is not only their
righteousness but also makes them holy and pure before God. Christ is all in all to the elect, for God
cannot look upon sin. “For thou art not
a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The
foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity
(Psalm 5.4-5).” “Thou art of purer eyes
than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity…(Habakkuk 1.13).” Thus, those that the Father chose and gave
to the Son, Christ made clean. “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy
transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins (Isaiah
43.25).”
“Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to
them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in
every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours
(1 Corinthians 1.2).” The saints are
chosen to be holy and pure in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the flesh of fallen human nature, man is filthy and
polluted. The old man of human nature
is filled with sin and disobedience. It
was necessary that corrupt human nature be made acceptable before God. This Jesus accomplished two thousand years
ago on the cross of Calvary. “For if
the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the
unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this
cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they
which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance (Hebrews
9.13-15).”
Not only did the Lord Jesus reconcile the elect
to God, but also He removed the curse of the law and cleansed their consciences
from useless works. “Wherefore Jesus
also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without
the gate (Hebrews 13.12).” It is
through the finished work of Christ that the children of God are made
acceptable to Him.
As stated previously, there are three aspects of
sanctification we would like to examine in this treatise. We must understand that with the Lord God
Jehovah, things are not in part or parcel, nor do they occur in any certain
order. Man organizes these things in
order that he might better grasp these magnificent truths of God. Even placed in such an orderly fashion, man
could never fathom even the smallest portion of the Lord’s works if not
illuminated by the Spirit of Revelation.
It is not the Lord that systematizes His decrees, for with the
Omniscient God all knowledge and wisdom is constantly at His disposal. The eternal mind of the Omnipotent God has a
perfect knowledge of all things and all possibilities and has determined all
things according to his good pleasure.
The third aspect of sanctification of which we
now endeavor to treat is ascribed to God the Holy Spirit. “But we are bound to give thanks alway to
God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth (2 Thessalonians 2.13).”
Salvation for time and eternity must be credited to the sovereign,
omnipotent workings of God. From
eternity to eternity, the elect have ever been the objects of Jehovah’s love.
“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:
Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied (1 Peter 1.2).” “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me,
saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving
kindness have I drawn thee (Jeremiah 31.3).”
The child of God that has been quickened to
spiritual life and brought to experience the new or heavenly birth possesses
two natures. One nature is referred to
as the old man. This old man is
the corrupt human nature, which he receives, in natural generation from his
corrupt father the first Adam. Man is
born with this nature and never loses it, but continues with it all the days of
his life. This nature is as old as he
is and remains the slave to and lover of sin as long as man lives in this
world. “For I know that in me (that is,
in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how
to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not:
but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is
no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me (Romans 7.18-20).”
There
will never be any change made in this nature until the earthly house of this
tabernacle is dissolved. The old Adamic
nature will never bow in obedience to the commands of God without a struggle.
“But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members (Romans
7.23).” Thus, left to his inherited
sinful nature, which comes by natural generation from the lineage of Adam, man
finds no hope. Man is made to exclaim,
“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death
(Romans 7.24)?” This expression used by
the Apostle Paul is alluding to a practice of Roman law in which, on occasion
when a man committed murder, he was sentenced to have the corpse secured across
his back and around his neck for a period of time. The dead body would of course begin to decay and the man was left
with a corrupt, putrefying burden that he was forced to bear around with him as
a penalty and a reminder of his crime.
This is an appropriate analogy of the old sinful nature, which the child
of God must deal with daily. It is from
this fallen, corrupt, rebellious nature inherited from Adam that all sinful
thoughts and actions proceed.
Thanks be to the mercies of a compassionate God
that when no relief or respite from this dead weight can be found, which so
often troubles the frail little child of grace, the Lord is gracious to provide
a release from this burden. “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then
with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin (Romans
7.25).”
We have mentioned that there are two natures
found in the regenerated or spiritually alive child of God. We now come to that second nature which by
grace we receive from the Lord Jesus Christ.
“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the
last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is
spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual (1
Corinthians 15.45-46).” Thus to be born
from above is to be brought forth with a complete and new spiritual life.
This life is not received by natural generation
from Adam, but is created by the power of God the Holy Spirit in the form and
likeness of Jesus Christ the Lord from heaven.
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2.10).”
This new spiritual nature, which is created in
the form and image of Christ, is denominated the new man. “If so be that ye have heard him, and
have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning
the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the
deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on
the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness
(Ephesians 4.21-24).” This is the
inward or Christ-man, the one who loves the law of Christ and desires to obey
and practice righteousness. “For I delight in the law of God after the inward
man (Romans 7.22).” The new inward man
is a complete and new creation within the person. Truly if not for the mercies of an all gracious and compassionate
God, the children of grace could never perform any works that conform to the revealed
will of the Thrice Holy Jehovah.
It is by this new spiritual nature, which
delights in the holiness of God, that the Christian is enabled at times to obey
and walk in the commandments of Christ.
The warfare rages but, “Ye are of God, little children, and have
overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the
world (1 John 4.4).” Sin shall not rule
in the mortal body of the saints because God has ordained it so. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal
body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof (Romans 6.12).”
The
sin-burdened child of grace might complain that sin is a constant hindrance to
him; and that he can do nothing that is not mingled with sin and
imperfections. Nevertheless, when
blessed of the Lord to reflect on his past experiences, the Christian realizes
that due to the utter hatred of sin in his daily life he delights to perform
the revealed will of God. Thus, though
the saints slip, slide, and fall on many occasions the Lord does not suffer
them to remain in this state, but recovers them by divine grace and leads them
to return unto Him repeatedly.
“
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which
is idolatry (Colossians 3.5).”
Mortification or a putting to death the sinful
actions of the flesh is not literal. In
the past men have done injury to their bodies in trying to overcome their
sinful desires and lusts of the flesh.
In order to slay the carnal motions of sin no
less power than that of the Spirit of God is required. “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to
the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall
die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall
live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God
(Romans 8.12-14).”
If the quickened child of grace does anything
deemed to be good or obedient in this life it is by the in-working power of the
Spirit of God. All spiritual works and
obedience springs forth from the operation of the Spirit of Holiness within the
child of God. “Wherefore, my beloved,
as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my
absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of his good pleasure (Phillipians 2.12-13).”
Owing to
the dual nature within the Christian, the spiritual warfare continues to take
place within the elect child, which brings forth his thoughts and actions often
in fear and much trembling. “This I say
then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other:
so that ye cannot do the things that ye would (Galatians 5.16-17).”
Walking in the Spirit is a work of grace
produced by the Holy Spirit dwelling in the individual. Experimentally (experientially) through the
graces produced, he works out his salvation while going about living life here
in time. When under the power and
influence of the Holy Spirit, the lusts of the flesh can be subdued for a
season and therefore sin does not reign or rule the child of God. The victory over sin is always obtained by
the power of the Holy Spirit, for when left to themselves the elect are nothing
more than depraved rebels.
Thus,
to not practice or constantly observe a sinful lifestyle is completely ascribed
to the grace of God. How dark the days
and seasons when the child of grace is left without the felt presence of the
Lord. When God is pleased to turn His
face from His children for a period of time and leaves them to grope in gross
Egyptian darkness, a darkness that can be felt, they go for a season in their
own strength with seemingly no guide.
It is in these intervals the little trembling child of grace is taken to
school and instructed by the Lord that, “without me ye can do nothing (John
15.5).” This is the Old School of
Christ that never fails to teach the lesson.
Holy thoughts, words, or deeds he cannot perform. He receives no pleasure in the reading of
the Scriptures or the preaching of the Word; nor any joy in the presence of or
communion with the saints. The
perception of the Christian in these times is that he is alone with and in his
sin. Often he feels himself to be
totally and utterly deceived and hope smolders as a burning ember that
threatens to be completely extinguished.
In such times as these the Lord has designed
that the inward corruptions of the heart might be brought forth and revealed to
the individual and the Christian might have all carnal security and fleshly
natural religion torn away. The secret
idols of arrogance and self-righteousness are broken up and cast down.
Whatever value may have previously been placed
upon the works of his own hands is now considered nothing and less than
nothing. “Yea doubtless, and I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but
dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith (Phillipians 3.8-9).”
When the spiritual darkness that comes as a
result of God’s withholding His felt presence from His elect has continued for
as long as seems good to the Lord, and when the child of grace can bear it no
longer lest he give into despair, crushed by the weight and guilt of his own
sins, Jehovah is pleased to dispel the night by the dawning once again of
Christ in the soul.
Words fail to express the sense of joy and peace
that breaks in upon the man, woman, boy, or girl who has been laboring under a
load of inherent sin and depravity.
However, Christ speaks peace to their soul. “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest (Matthew 11.28).”
Tears of
repentence shed in faith and hope wash away the filth of sinful burdens and
guilt. The soul is once more enabled
to embrace the Lord Jesus as the
only ground of justification before the holiness of the High and Lofty One that
inhabits eternity. The infinite worth
of Christ the great Head of the Church and only Savior of sinners is brought
forth and impressed upon the mind of one who had almost lost hope.
His righteousness becomes their
righteousness. His strength is made
theirs; and in their weakness, the power of Christ is perfected or made
complete. ”And he said unto me, My
grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness… (2
Corinthians 12.9).”
Sanctification is a work that is complete and
perfect in that the inward, new, or Christ-man it is “… his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works…(Ephesians 2.10).” This new creature is perfect and
sinless. “And that ye put on the new
man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians
4.24).” The inward man loves the law of
God and the commands of Christ his King.
“For I delight in the law of God after the inward man (Romans 7.22).”
Though
he finds that he is not always obedient to the revealed will of God, he desires
to serve the Lord perfectly. When found
walking in obedience, he ascribes all glory to God for His glorious grace. While in disobedience and sin he knows it is
his corrupt nature that is to blame. “I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve
the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin (Romans 7.25).” Through these sinful actions he is made to
hate the corruptions of the flesh. “And
grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of
redemption (Ephesians 4.30).”
The natural unregenerate man hates good and holy
things and loves evil and sin. He is
not perfect and never will be. He will
continue to fill up the measure of his days until the grave receives him. Counter to this, a sanctified man loves
righteousness and hates the sin that so easily besets him. Those who love the Lord cannot but hate evil
and sin; for these things are totally opposite to that new nature created
within them.
The quickened children of God not only hate sin
and evil in others but also abhor that sin that they find in themselves. “For
that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate,
that do I (Romans 7.15).”
Though we affirm sanctification as being
complete and perfect in the new man, it is certain that there is a growth in
grace and knowledge of Christ here in time.
“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen (2 Peter 3.18).” This has been mistaken in the past for a progressive
sanctification. It has been
misunderstood that without this complete sanctification of the inward man, no
growth in grace could be possible. This
is the progressive work that continues every day while the children of God
sojourn here in time.
“But unto every one of us is given grace
according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he
ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now
that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower
parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far
above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we
all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about
with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow
up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ (Ephesians 4.7-15).”
Though too high for mere man to explain, the
spiritual warfare that continues within the saints is the result of
regeneration (quickening) and sanctification, and produces the growth in grace,
which the children of God experience.
Thus, outwardly and inwardly, “…all things work together for good to
them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Romans
8.28).” The providences of life,
appointed and governed by Jehovah God, and the works of the Spirit that are
active within every one of the elect, bring forth the desired and eternally
purposed result. When viewed
collectively this is the perseverance of the saints of God. “Being confident of this very thing, that he
which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ (Phillipians 1.6).”
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin
which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is
set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for
the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in
your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye
have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My
son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked
of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he
receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what
son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we
have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence:
shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he
for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And
make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the
way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without
which no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12. 1-14).”
This the work of God that goes on, more or less,
all the days that are allotted to the elect.
On that great day when the Lord shall come and raise the dead with but a
word from His lips, all will be made whole, perfect, and spiritually fit to
dwell with God forever. Every one for
whom the Lord paid the ransom price with His precious blood shall no more be
hindered by a body of flesh and corruption but in the resurrection shall enjoy
that everlasting felicity that can only be found in the presence of the Triune
Godhead. Until that time may God give
His sheep the blessings of grace to persevere and to overcome by the blood of
the Lamb.
—Elder Bruce Atkisson
P. O. Box 982
Talladega, AL
35161-0982
E-mail: RBAtkisson@CS.COM
(Click here to return to
Contents)
*
MATTHEW
13.36-50
By
Elder C. C. Morris
When
Christ left the house (or
synagogue) in Capernaum, as recorded in Matthew 13.1, and He sat by the sea
side, He gave the parables of the kingdom of heaven (not the kingdom of God). His leaving the synagogue was a symbolic
gesture representing his leaving the house of Israel desolate: “Behold, your house is left unto you
desolate (Matthew 23.38).” Today,
multitudes think God has left national Israel forever desolate; but this is not
at all the case. Note the Scriptures
carefully. Notice the words “till” and
“until” as Christ and the Scripture writers use them here and elsewhere. When Christ left the temple, the full
account says, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me
henceforth, till ye shall say, ‘Blessed is he that cometh in the
name of the Lord.’” And Jesus went out,
and departed from the temple… (Matthew 23.38-24.1).
Remember, in the preceding chapter, earlier
that same day, the Pharisees had
accused Him of working His miracles by the power of Beelzebub, which is
another name for Satan the prince of devils (Matthew 12.24).
When He left their synagogue and went to the
seashore, Christ symbolically did exactly what His apostle, Paul, literally
said and did in Acts 13.45-47: But when
the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against
those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said,
It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you:
but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting
life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light
of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the
earth.
Paul was not applying this prophecy to
himself. What he quoted here from
Isaiah 49.6 is a prophecy of Christ Jesus the Lord. It is Christ whom God had set as a light of the Gentiles, “that
Thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” Read all of Isaiah 49, and may the Lord
bless the reading of it.
The sea of Galilee, by which Jesus sat on that
day (Matthew 13.1), in a figure represents the Gentile nations. (Note “Galilee of the Gentiles” in
Matthew 4.15 and nations in Isaiah 9.1f.)
Looking back from the vantage point of Matthew
13.34, the four parables of (a) the sower, (b) the wheat and tares, (c) the
mustard-seed tree, and (d) the leavening of the three measures of meal all
describe and prophesy of the course of the church among the Gentiles: (a) The gospel, proclaimed among the
Gentiles, is believed only by those to whom it is given, while the rest are
blinded; (b) Satan sows tares (false wheat) to both imitate and oppose the
children of God; (c) the wicked take refuge in the branches of Christendom; and
finally (d) the entire professing church is corrupted (leavened) in doctrine
and practice.
The Lord does nothing haphazardly or by
accident. All fulfilled prophecy proves
predestination. He gave all seven of
His parables of the kingdom of heaven in a precise order, interspersed with
symbolic actions (His going out of the house, verse 1, His returning back into
the house, verse 36, and His explaining two of the parables in verses 18ff and
37ff), all in a predestined and symbolic order. He did so for a prophetic reason: Each detail foreshadows the orderly progression of events of the
kingdom of heaven from the time of the establishing His church until the end of
the church age when it has run its course in the world.
Remember, these seven parables are about the
kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13.11, 24, 31, 33, 44, 45, 47, and
52), not the kingdom of God (John 3.3-5).
Do not quickly (and wrongly) jump to the conclusion that the church is
the kingdom of heaven. She is the bride
of Christ, the Lamb’s wife, and as such she is indeed a part of the
kingdom of heaven (which rules over all—Psalm 103.19). The governor’s wife is part of the state he
rules over; but his wife is certainly not exactly the same as the entire
state! Nor is the kingdom of heaven the
same as the church, nor the same as the kingdom of God, which is entered
only by being born from above (John 3.3-5).
He gave these first four parables by the sea
because the sea in Scripture typifies the Gentile nations, and four is the
number associated with the world (the four cardinal directions of the compass,
the four “corners” or four quarters of the earth, the four Gentile world
empires recorded in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, “the four winds,” the four gospels, etc.). By parables, Christ is giving a prophetic
view of the church age and what is to follow it.
The sea as a type of the Gentile nations is not
some speculative or personal opinion lightly thrown in. Bible readers cannot rightfully make up
“types and shadows.” They must search
the Scriptures to see how God uses natural objects—seas, storms, and ships;
sun, moon, and stars; clouds, fields, leaven, wheat, tares, vines, buildings,
beasts and birds—to represent spiritual truths:
“…Come hither; I will show unto thee the
judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters… And he saith unto
me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are
peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues (Revelation 17.1,
15)”; “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest,
whose waters cast up mire and dirt (Isaiah 57.21)”; “O thou [Babylon]
that dwellest upon many waters...(Jeremiah 51.13).” These are but a few of the passages that
tell how the Lord uses seas symbolically.
But never lose sight of the fact that Christ and
His disciples were on a literal sea in more than one real, literal storm in a
real, literal boat (Matthew 8.24-27, 14.24-32), and Paul and Luke experienced a
real, literal voyage and shipwreck in Acts 27.
Some expositors “spiritualize” things and events to such an extent that
their hearers forget the events actually took place. These things really happened, even though “spiritual
applications” and “types and shadows” may be found in such events.
What does “literal” mean? The
word literal means “real; adhering to fact or to the ordinary
understanding and meaning of words and expressions.” Literal is not contrasted to spiritual (spirits are literal
spirits); literal is to be contrasted to figurative, metaphorical,
or symbolic. Literal
things are not necessarily the same as physical or natural
things, although they can be and usually are.
“A rose is a rose is a [literal] rose” (Gertrude Stein), and a boat is a
boat is a boat. But literal roses and
boats can also have figurative and symbolic meanings. A boat can symbolize the church (which is the people and not the
building) in some respects, but not all; church members do not regularly
need a few coats of marine paint or
have to have a State-issued number painted on them (at least not yet!) before
they can legally go out on a lake.
God is a Spirit (John 4.24), and He is
literal—not figurative or symbolic—because He is real. Also, spirits may be “natural” spirits, as
the spirits of beasts (Ecclesiastes 3.21).
The kingdom of heaven is literal, because the Bible says it is, giving
countless number of real characteristics and descriptions. It behooves us to be familiar with these
distinctions.
Continuing with our text: Then He sent the multitude away,
indicating in a figure an end to the church age as we have known it for
almost two thousand years. He then
went back into the house. This action
on His part typifies the fact that after He has finished with the Gentile
nations, He again has a future for Israel, and He will return to them.
“And they [the Jews, national Israel] shall fall
by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and
Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of
the Gentiles be fulfilled (Luke 21.24).”
“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery,
lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened
to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in (Romans
11.25).”
If the time were not coming when Jerusalem will
no longer be trodden down by the Gentiles and Israel will no longer be blinded,
then language has no meaning.
After “the times of the Gentiles” is completed,
and “the fullness of the Gentiles”—which is the church—“be come in,” God will
take up the house of Israel again. (The
Lord is even now bringing national Israel back to the holy land as He
prophesied in Isaiah 11 and many other texts.)
What
happens next prophetically is linked directly to
the disciples’ requesting of
Him, “Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field” (verse 36).
Talk of absolute predestination! They asked at the exact time that His
explanation of the parable and the fulfillment of the parable come together
perfectly in the prophetic timetable, immediately after the whole of the
church-phase of the kingdom of heaven is totally leavened, and immediately
after His taking up again the house of Israel.
As the leavening of the entire three measures of
meal represents the apostasy of the Laodicean age, and His going back into the
house (Matthew 13.36) symbolizes His turning from apostate Christendom among
the Gentiles and His returning to Israel as their Messiah-King, so the
explanation of the parable of the wheat and tares explains exactly what happens
next after His return to Israel.
This is what Christ said the parable means. It is plainly His
interpretation. May God grace His
people to ignore men’s “interpretations” and to stay with what He says:
He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man.
The field is the world [Greek, kosmos,
world].
The good seed are the children of the kingdom.
The tares are the children of the wicked one.
The enemy that sowed them is the devil.
The harvest is the end of the age [Greek, aion].
The reapers are the angels.
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned
in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this age (aion). The Son of man shall send forth his angels,
and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and
them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall
be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in
the kingdom of their Father.
Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Do not miss that last sentence. Not everyone has ears to hear these things.
End of the World?
There are two words here translated as world
in the above verses (38-40), but only one is correctly translated by our word world,
in the sense of planet earth. It
is the Greek word kosmos,
rendered world over 160 times in the New Testament.
A Kosmos, defined, is actually anything
that is a system complete within itself.
It can be the world-system, as a whole; it can be something as small and
simple as one complete place-setting at a table, which is one way the old
Greeks used the word; or it can be the entire universe (Cosmos) itself. To the Greeks, a kosmos was any
self-contained system considered complete as a unit.
The other Greek word, aion, meaning “Age,
dispensation, or indefinite time” (Young’s Analytical Concordance), is
rightly rendered by our words aeon, eon, and age.
In the New Testament, aion is also
rendered “world” over thirty times, which is a source of much of the “end of
the world” confusion.
Do not let the biblical word dispensation
in Young’s definition throw you. It has
nothing to do with being a “dispensationalist” like C. I. Scofield and the
“dispensationalism” associated with him and his kind. (Scofield divided all biblical history and prophecy into what he
called seven “dispensations.”)
“Dispensation” simply means stewardship, or economy, in
the sense of God’s dealing with certain situations is specific ways (Ephesians
1.10, 3,2; Colossians 1.25, etc.).
Since Scofield was quite literal in his understanding of the Scriptures,
the terms “Dispensationalism” and “Dispensationalist” are often incorrectly
and dishonestly used as derogatory terms to refer to anyone who does
not “spiritualize” everything in the Bible.
When we hear the term “the end of the world,” we
usually think of this terrestrial ball of rock, dirt, water, and atmosphere—i.e.,
the earth—disappearing into nothingness.
The Lord never said that would happen.
In fact, He said the exact opposite:
“For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that
formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain
[literally, without form, the same word as in Genesis 1.2], he formed
it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else (Isaiah
45.18).” He formed it to be inhabited,
and He will have His way; it will be inhabited.
Objection: The
world will be burned up. 2 Peter 3.10
says, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt
with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be
burned up.”
Reply:
The “burning up” of this world is only a part of the
picture. The next verse (verse 11)
says, “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,” and the
next (verse 12) says, “…the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being
on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat.” Hebrews 1.10-12 says,
“And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and
the heavens are the works of thine hands:
They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old
as doth a garment; And as a vesture
shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed.” Putting these statements together, the
Scriptures say the heavens and the earth will be “burned up,” “dissolved,”
“melted”; they will “perish,” be “folded up,” and “changed.”
Change
simply means to make different, not to cause it to cease to exist. We all burn things, dissolve things, and
melt things all the time. Burning
paper, melting butter or iron ore, or dissolving salt or sugar does not make
these things “not exist any more”; they continue to exist, but in a different
state of being. God’s acts of burning,
dissolving, changing, folding up, and melting do not undo His creative acts of
Genesis 1. The burning up of the
heavens and the earth will purge out all the effects of sin and unrighteousness
from all creation, restoring the pristine beauty and perfection of the original
creation before the fall, before the introduction of sin into the
creation.
To say anything less is to charge God with being
a quitter, insinuating He began a project (the creation of Genesis 1) He could
not bring to a successful completion.
So saying ranks alongside
Arminianism’s myopic notion that the cross was an afterthought on God’s part
because His giving of the law had failed.
Continuing in 2 Peter 3.13, Peter says,
“Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
In prospect, the apostle John saw the
fulfillment of this promise as he recorded in Revelation 21.1: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth:
for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no
more sea.” Here, the words “heaven” and
“earth” mean exactly that, heaven and earth, just like in Genesis 1.1. John saw the New Jerusalem coming down from
God out of heaven. If it was coming
down from heaven, it was coming down to something.
We have no scriptural reason to think this
passage of Scripture means anything other than exactly what it says. The original creation will be restored to
its original splendor and glory, and it will be a permanent fixture in the
eternal state.
Reply:
The phrase “end of the world” occurs twice in the Old Testament (Psalm
19.4 and Isaiah 62.11). Both times
refer not to the destruction of all matter but to going as far as one can, to
the utmost extremity of the earth.
The phrase “end of the world” occurs five times
in the New Testament. Every single time
it is from the Greek word aion.
Never did Christ or any of His prophets, apostles, or other biblical
writers refer to “the end of the kosmos,” because the kosmos does
not end. It has an eternal state, as
described in Revelation 21-22. The five
times the phrase “end of the world” is found in the New Testament, with the
word correctly translated “age(s)” are:
1.
Matthew 13.39: “The enemy that
sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers
are the angels.”
2.
Matthew 13.49: “So shall it be
at the end of the age: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked
from among the just.”
3.
Matthew 24.3: “And as he sat
upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell
us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and
of the end of the age?”
4.
Matthew 28.20: “Teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the age. Amen.”
5.
Hebrews 9.26: “For then must he
often have suffered since the foundation of the world (kosmos): but now
once in the end of the age hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself.”
A
“Secret Rapture”? No!
Will there be a “secret rapture” of the church,
as the Arminian world everywhere teaches?
No. The Bible does not teach
such a thing.
First, the word rapture or its equivalent is not
found in the Bible. The concept is a
foreign to the Scriptures as the word
itself. Men concocted the idea
of a secret rapture in the mid-nineteenth century and began trying to fit
scripture verses into their new scheme.
One of their favorite passages of Scripture men
use to teach a so-called “rapture” is found in Matthew 24.40-41 and the
parallel passage in Luke 17.34-36. I
quote from Luke: “I tell you, in that
night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the
other shall be left. Two women
shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one
shall be taken, and the other left.”
Those who teach a secret rapture all say the
ones who are taken are “the saved,” taken at the “rapture” into heaven,
and those who are left are left on the earth to go through the great
tribulation, all of which is exactly the opposite of what Christ said: “The Son of man shall send forth his angels,
and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and
them which do iniquity; and shall cast
them [the ones who are taken!] into a furnace of fire: there shall be
wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then
shall the righteous [those who are left!] shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13.41-43).”
And that “kingdom of their Father,” Jesus has explained, is “the kingdom
of heaven.”
Objection: I
see a contradiction. Matthew 24.31 says
it is the elect, not the tares, who are to be gathered by the angels.
Reply:
This is only a different emphasis and viewpoint. “For the Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of
God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord
in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians
4.16f).” The air is the meeting place
of Christ and His saints, and not their permanent dwelling place.
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear,
then shall ye also appear with him in glory (Colossians 3.4).” “Thy dead men shall live, together with my
dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew
is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Come, my people, enter thou into thy
chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a
little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the
inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her
blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall
punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and
he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. (Isaiah 26.19-ff).” The saints will be temporarily removed to
the air above the earth while Christ and His angels do their house-cleaning at
the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19.11-20.3), preceding the one-thousand
year reign of Christ on the earth (Revelation 20.4-6) with His saints (Revelation
5.9f).
There are two groups of people in the parable of
the wheat and tares: (a) the children
of the kingdom, who are the children of God, represented by the wheat; and (b)
the children of the wicked one, represented by the tares. One group is taken and the other is left
behind. Those who teach a “secret
rapture” insist they want to be taken and not left behind when Christ returns.
Who is taken when Christ returns, according to
His own words? “They [God’s holy
angels] shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and
them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
The ones who offend and them that do iniquity are the ones to be taken
(out).
Who will be left behind? “Then shall the righteous shine forth
as the sun in the kingdom of their Father (verse 43).” The righteous ones are left behind. Since there are none righteous in their
natural birth, these righteous ones are those who have been made righteous by
the imputed righteousness of Christ Jesus their Lord. Why are they left behind?
What will they then do? They
will shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, the kingdom of heaven. Where are they left? On earth!
Conditionalists would love to say the tares are
the “unfaithful children of God” and are to be removed from the kingdom of
God, which they insist is identical to the kingdom of heaven. Consistent with their Arminianism
foundation, some Conditionalists are now challenging the doctrine of the preservation
and perseverance of the saints. Given a
while longer, if the Lord does not restrain them, there will be no difference
between Conditionalist “Primitive Baptists” and Wesleyan Methodists. To make the kingdom of heaven equal the
kingdom of God in the parable of the wheat and the tares, Conditionalist
doctrine plainly forces the conclusion that children of God, elect from all
eternity, redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, and regenerated by the Holy
Spirit, can lose their salvation and be damned eternally.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto
treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for
joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field (Matthew
13.44). Jesus has already identified the field as
the world (verse 38).
Those who read the church into everything
suppose this treasure hid in the field is the church. The church—Christ’s elect, His bride, His body—is surely to be
identified with the righteous ones of verse 43 preceding, and with the pearl in
the next parable following (verses 45-46).
But the Lord has another treasure in the field (world), truly hidden,
which must be addressed.
This hidden treasure of verse 44, yet to be
revealed and acknowledged as His own, is His people among the nation of
Israel: “Now therefore, if ye will obey
my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure
(Hebrew, cegullah; Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary #5459) unto me
above all people: for all the earth is mine (Exodus 19:5).” The one Hebrew word cegullah is here
rendered by two English words, peculiar treasure; peculiar, not
in the sense of weird or odd, but in the sense of special, as Paul
refers to the redeemed in Titus 2.14.
The word actually refers to an important, valuable treasure that is
“closed up” or “shut up,” as protected in a safe or a vault. It is rendered by the English words peculiar
treasure here and elsewhere; by special people in Deuteronomy 7.6, peculiar
people in Deuteronomy 14.2 and 26.18; peculiar treasure in Psalm
135.4, and jewels in Malachi 3.17.
Of these verses, more follows later.
Objection:
God said here, “IF ye will obey…and keep my covenant, THEN ye shall be a
peculiar treasure….” But national Israel
did not obey and keep God’s covenant, so they forfeited this promise.
Reply:
(a) A negative doctrine cannot be correctly built on a positive
statement such as Exodus 19.5, but free-willers have never been known for
correct argumentation. When one says,
“if you do X, then I will do Y,” it in no way says what the speaker will or
will not do if you do not do X.
To say the speaker will not do Y presumes to build a doctrine by mere
speculation. In this case, such
presumption is adding to the Word of God.
(b) Under the conditional (law) covenant,
certain things could be forfeited, by disobedience; but Israel’s disobedience
could in no way nullify the eternal, unconditional promises God made to Abraham
over four hundred years earlier. “And
this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the
law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it
should make the promise of none effect (Galatians 3.17).”
(c) The truth is, there are many other
Scriptures, mentioned above, that plainly mark the nation of Israel as God’s
peculiar treasure:
1. “For
thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people (cegullah ) unto himself, above all
people that are upon the face of the earth (Deuteronomy 7.6).” There is nothing conditional about that.
2. “For
thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to
be a peculiar people (cegullah ) unto himself, above all the
nations that are upon the earth (Deuteronomy 14.2).” There is nothing conditional about that.
3. “And
the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people (cegullah
), as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments
(Deuteronomy 26.18).” There is nothing
conditional about that.
Reply:
Some people will challenge God to His face. The Lord has avouched (“to declare as a matter of fact or as a
thing that can be proved.”—Webster) two things here:
a.
Israel (“thee,” “thou”) is His cegullah as He hath promised
(thee); and,
b. Thou
shouldst keep all His commandments.
The second in no way nullifies the first, which
is an unconditional promise of God to His chosen people Israel.
Anyone having a problem with this principle is
again referred to Galatians 3.17.
4. “For
the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar
treasure (cegullah) (Psalm 135.4).”
There is nothing conditional about that.
5. “And
they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels
(cegullah); and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that
serveth him (Malachi 3.17).” There is
nothing conditional about that.
This may be accurately translated, “And they
shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my peculiar
treasure; and I will spare them,” etc.
This latter text might be applied to the church,
in a certain sense; I have tried to so apply it in times past; but the truth
remains that God is speaking to national Israel through Malachi, and the text
is to be so understood: He speaks to Levi (Malachi 3.3), to Judah
and to Jerusalem (verse 4), and to Jacob (verse 6).
We’ve probably all heard Malachi 3.17, and the
verses around it, discussed somewhat as follows:
Verse
8, “Robbing God in tithes and offerings,” that’s Old Testament Israel. The whole nation is cursed. See, in verse 9?
“Bring
ye all the tithes into the storehouse, verse 10; that only applies to the
Jews, not the church; the church doesn’t tithe.
In verse 10 and 11 God says, “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. And I will rebuke the
devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground;
neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the
LORD of hosts.” That’s obviously the
Jews, all under the conditional law covenant. [Note: Conditionalism says the text applies equally
well to the elect’s earning blessings and rewards by their obedience—CCM]
Verse 12, “And all nations shall call you
blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts”; that’s spiritual
Israel, the church. We know
that because God is through with the Jews.
Verses 13-15, “Your words have been stout
against me, saith the LORD,” etc., that’s the Jews again. Verses 16 and 17, that’s the church
again….”
Strange how so lame an approach can find the
agility to play such biblical hopscotch!
All this jumping back and forth, applying all the curses to the Jews and
all the blessings to the church, raises many questions. Here we mention only four:
1. Does
not this entire passage pertain to Levi, Judah, and Jerusalem, of whom
the Lord says, “Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be
pleasant unto the LORD [Jehovah], as in the days of old, and as in former
years (verses 3-4).” Has the
offering of Judah and Jerusalem ever, from Malachi’s time until now, been
“pleasant unto the Lord”? If not, then
which is it: Is Malachi’s prophecy
wrong, or does he refer to a yet future time?
2. Does
“in the days of old” (olden days from Malachi’s day, around 400 BC), and “as in
former years” (prior to 400 BC) apply to “spiritual Israel” (the
church), or to national Israel?
3. Verse
18 says, “Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and
the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” Who is the “ye” that is to return—the
church (which had never left), or national Israel, which did
leave, and which is and has been Malachi’s subject since chapter 1?
4.
Malachi 4.4 says, “Remember ye the law of Moses my
servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the
statutes and judgments.” Did Moses
receive the commandments of God for spiritual Israel/the New Testament church,
or for national Israel? Does
Moses apply to “spiritual Israel” (the church) or to national
Israel?
These are all legitimate questions, and they
demand sober answers from anyone who (a) claims to present a well-balanced,
complete exposition of the Scriptures, and yet (b) denies that the nation of
Israel has an eternal future as a literal, national entity, guaranteed by God’s
unconditional promises to Abraham.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a
merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:Who, when he had found one pearl of great
price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it (Matthew 13.45f). A pearl
is a beautiful picture of the church. A
pearl is the product of a shellfish, and the best shellfish for pearl
production is the oyster.
Shellfish are unclean animals, according to the
Levitical law (Leviticus 11.9-12).
Israelites consider a pearl to be unclean because of this. Jewish merchants would certainly stock
pearls for their Gentile customers, but an orthodox Jew would not wear a pearl,
no matter how expensive and beautiful it might be, because of its inherent
uncleanness. Therefore, the pearl is
that much more a beautiful picture of the church among the Gentiles, since the
Jews think of the Gentiles as being greatly unclean sinners. Because of her Levitical uncleanness, the
church is a treasure distinct from Israel, the treasure hid in the field.
The pearl is the fruit of suffering. It forms around a grain of sand or some
other irritant that has gotten inside the oyster’s shell. To protect itself, the oyster secretes a
material that coats the irritating impurity with a smooth covering.
Like the oyster, Christ was adjudged to be
unclean in order to be identified with His people.
Like the pearl, His people were chosen in
Him, and yet they have an irritating impurity in their innermost being
(heart). Christ covers them with a
protective covering that comes from Himself, His own righteousness, which
covers their impurity. Like Christ, the
oyster must die in order to deliver the pearl (His people) to glory. Pearls are even associated with the twelve
gates of that eternal and blessed city, the new Jerusalem of Revelation
21.21. Like the redeemed church, the
pearl is the fruit of a life of suffering and death. Together with the pearl it produces, an oyster is a fit and
well-nigh perfect picture of Christ and His church.
THE NET CAST INTO
THE SEA
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net,
that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was
full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but
cast the bad away (Matthew 13.47-48).
Following the reign of Christ as described by
nearly every Old Testament prophet and as summarized by John in Revelation 20,
Satan is released, God proving a point in finality: Without the direct intervention of divine, sovereign grace and
mercy and the inner regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, mankind is truly,
totally depraved, incurably wicked, and instant as ever in rebellion, even
after a thousand years of Eden-like conditions under the benevolent government
of Jesus Christ. Satan “shall go out to
deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog,
to gather them together to battle (Revelation 20.8).” The result, as pictured in this parable, is described in
Revelation 20.9-15.
There are two comings of the Lord Jesus Christ
and two aspects of His coming
prophesied, which are His sufferings (fulfilled at His first
coming), and the glory that should follow (to be fulfilled at His second
coming): “Of which salvation the
prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace
that should come unto you: searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of
Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand [a] the sufferings of Christ, and [b] the
glory that should follow (1 Peter 1.10f).”
“Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that
the prophets have spoken: Ought not
Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself
(Luke 24.25-27).”
National Israel was looking for a conquering
king at His first coming. They missed
entirely the prophecies that He would be wounded, striped, and pierced, and
would suffer, die, and rise again the third day according to their own
Scriptures.
Many today make an equally bad mistake of not
looking for Him to come as the prophets said, the conquering and reigning king
of Israel. Every knee shall bow, of
things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and every
tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. He is presently glorified with the Father,
with the glory He had before the world was (John 17.5); but He has another
glory of His own, rightfully His as the greater Son of David, which is yet to
be displayed before all creation.
He is coming to be glorified in His saints: “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to
recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled
[recompense] rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not
God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from
the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and
to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was
believed) in that day (2 Thessalonians 1.6-10).” These latter verses perfectly describe the time Christ spoke of
in Matthew 13.41-43.
In this age the church is suffering with Him,
awaiting glorification with Him: “And
if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be
that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together
[with Him] (Romans 8.17).”
Below, point for point and in the proper order,
the fourteen events in Matthew 13 are followed (in parentheses) by the parallel
historic and prophetic points they signify:
1. Pharisees
blaspheme, Matthew 12.24-32 (Israel rejects their Messiah)
2. Jesus
leaves the house and sits by the sea side, Matthew 13.1 (Jesus sends His
apostles to the Gentile nations)
3.
Parable of the sower, Matthew 13.3-9 (Gospel proclaimed to the Gentiles;
only the elect hear and believe it)
4.
Disciples’ question, Christ’s answer, verses 10-17 (Christ’s explanation
of sovereign election and blessings)
5.
Christ’s explanation of the sower parable, verses 18-23 (the
unregenerate [bad ground] and the regenerate [good ground] hearers of the
gospel)
6.
Parable of the Wheat and Tares, verses
24-30 (Satan’s counterfeit church-members infiltrate Christ’s church)
7.
Parable of the Mustard-seed, verses 31-32 (The evil ones, false
professors, lodge in the Gentile church)
8.
Parable of leaven hid in meal, verse 33 (The godly doctrine is corrupted
by the leaven of sin)
9.
Reiteration of why Christ spoke in Parables, verse 34-35 (sovereign
election and God’s blessing His people to hear and believe)
10. Christ
sends the multitudes away, and He returns into the house, verse 36 (The church
age being ended, Christ turns to national Israel and saves them, Romans
11.25-26)
11.
Christ explains the Parable of the Wheat and Tares, verses 36-43
(Armageddon; The end of the church age and the beginning of the literal kingdom
age on earth)
12. The
treasure hid in the field, verse 44 (National Israel is revealed as the Lord’s
treasure hid in the world)
13. The
pearl of great price, verses 45-46 (The church, as the glorified body and bride
of Christ, the pearl of great price, rules with Him on the earth, Revelation
5.9-10)
14. The Net with good and bad fish, verses 47-50 (The final destruction of Gog and Magog; the Great White Throne Judgment, Revelation 20.7-15)
The doctrine of the yet future, literal,
earthly, one-thousand year reign of Jesus Christ on the throne of His father
David, known as Premillennialism, is not widely preached among Primitive
Baptists currently, but historically it is and always has been held to by
some. As the Arminian Scofield and his
brand of dispensationalism gained momentum in the early twentieth century,
Premillennialism fell into disfavor among many Old School Baptists (but by no
means all) who were loath to be associated with the Premillennial Arminians;
therefore many of them threw out the Premillennial baby with the Arminian
bath-water. Others, including J. C.
Philpot in his day, and closer to our time, Elder H. H. Lefferts, former Editor
of Signs of the Times, proclaimed the restitution of the Jews to a
position of favor with God and the restoration of the creation to the pristine
purity it enjoyed before the entrance of sin. May God bless His truth and
pardon any error I may have set forth in this writing.
For now, I conclude to leave room for an
article entitled “Restitution” by Elder H. H. Lefferts, former Editor of
The Signs of the Times.
Originally published therein in
April, 1931, this article was republished by request in the February, 1954, Signs
of the Times. It was almost
immediately reprinted by Elder W. J. Berry in the Old Faith Contender in
May, 1954. In his article, Elder
Lefferts reaches back to J. C. Philpot in 1854, and yet he is as current as
today’s Mideast turmoil. Not one of his
words needs to be “updated.” Would that
we could print every word in bold,
italicized, capital neon letters! In
1931, he wrote exactly what this writer believes.
—C.C. Morris
(Click here to return to
Contents)
*
(Acts 3:21)
by
By Elder H. H.
Lefferts
A
sister whose address is
Harding, West Virginia, wrote asking as follows: “In the restitution of all things, what will be the ‘all things’
that are to be restored? I have never
heard any views on this, neither have I been enabled to grasp its full
meaning.”
We cannot tell why our ministers of late years
have been silent on this subject of “restitution,” unless it has been simply
because their minds have not been exercised to speak and to write of it. In looking back over the writings of Old
School Baptists years ago, one occasionally comes across references to this
subject, which shows that our people of former generations accepted and believe
the doctrine of “restitution.”
Nowadays, however, when this subject comes up, it seems to strike many
as something they never heard of before.
Thus, it may be good for us to be reminded of those things which we have
let slip through not having been taught them.
Restitution simply means restoration; the act of giving back what had at
some former time been taken away. In
this connection, it means restoring to the Jews what God had deprived them
of. It means restoring the Jews to
their own land and giving back to them the land taken from them. Not only, however, does restitution apply to
giving back to the Jews their former land, but it means restoring the Jewish
nation to covenant relationship with the Almighty through his Son Jesus Christ,
whom they rejected and crucified; but whom at his appearing again they will
believe in as their Messiah and Redeemer.
This can take place only when the Gentile church has been brought unto
completion; and from the signs now among us, we believe this is about at
hand. Religious organizations, that is,
the form of religion, may continue on for some time to come, but the true body
of Christ, which is his church, seems to be about finished. Already, and for some years past, the world
has been witnessing the steady movement of the Jews toward their own land. The World War of 1914 to 1918 gave this
movement a great impetus, and since then it has been growing by leaps and
bounds. “He shall send Jesus Christ,
which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the
times of restitution of all things, which God hat spoken by the mouth of all
his holy prophets since the world began.”
Just exactly as the word here says, God the
Father will send to the Jews his Son Jesus Christ. This Jesus was before preached unto them in all the types and
shadows of the Mosaic covenant. He was
declared by all the prophets unto them.
It is perfectly true that the Mosaic covenant was disobeyed by the
Jewish nation, wherefore they were cast out; and since their being cast out,
God through Christ by his grace has brought the Gentile church in. When this body of Christ is completed from
among the Gentiles, then will be brought to light the kingdom of heaven among
the restored Jewish remnant in the land of promise. The covenant made by God with Abraham was before the law four
hundred and thirty years, and the law which was afterward cannot by any means
disannul the promise which preceded the law.
But the Jews, as well as the Gentiles, cannot come in by the works of
the law; they cannot possibly come into the kingdom by flesh and blood: it must
be by promise, and wholly by God’s grace.
It will not and cannot be by their own might and power, but by the
Spirit of the Lord. This is why the
present world movement of Zionism has about come to a standstill on account of
England’s refusal to execute vigorously the mandate over the land of Palestine
assigned to England by the League of Nations.
England is afraid to antagonize the Arabs who are opposed to the Jews
coming back to Palestine. Thus, the
movement of Jews in that direction has been slowed down, but it is with almost
breathless interest that we look for the next development in world affairs
which will speed it up again.
Jesus Christ is at the present time in the heaven and has been in the heaven ever since his disciples with their own eyes beheld him ascend out of their sight; he will appear again at the fullness of the times of restitution, will appear to the Jews, and when they see him next time they will not say, “Away with him, crucify him. We will not have him rule over us.” No, they will say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” They will gladly hail him as their King and Messiah. There is no spirituality in them as yet, and will not be until they are circumcised in heart, ant that will not take place until they are back in the land, as Moses says in Deuteronomy 30:6. there is not a single one of the prophets but who declares this restoration of the Jews to their own land. As Acts 3:21 says, “The mouth of all his holy prophets” has spoken it. Moses, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Amos, Jeremiah, and Isaiah all say so. Had we space, we would quote them all. “Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.” (Hosea 1:11) “Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and