P. O. Box 1004
Hawkins, Texas 75765-1004
E-mail: ccmorris@the-remnant.com
The Godhead, Part 3, by Elder David K. Mattingly
In His Image (The Resurrection), by Elder Lynwood Jacobs
Malachi
1 and the Leaven of Matthew 13.33, by Elder C. C. Morris
The
Grace of God, by Elder Bruce Atkisson
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PART 3
By Elder David K. Mattingly
C. DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN THE THREE PERSONS IN MATTERS
OF SALVATION
Before closing this article a few words should be said about how God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit work to bring salvation to fallen sinners. The Bible teaches each has a primary role in the work of salvation. It also teaches in some aspects of this work there is overlapping involvement of the Three Persons. The Bible also teaches some other aspects of salvation are singularly the work of One Person. However, no matter what the case may be, there is always perfect unity of purpose in the operations of the Father, Son, and Spirit.
First, let me deal briefly with the indistinguishable features of the Divine Persons in their dealings with the people of God. There is overlap with regard to God’s election of some of Adam’s race. The Father chose His people before the world was made. Yet, consistent with the Father’s choice, both the Son and the Spirit have a part to play in election. (John 15.16; John 3.8). All Three Persons have a role in the revelation of heavenly things (Matthew 11.25-27; Matthew 16.16-17; 1 Corinthians 2.6-13; Galatians 1.11-12). Both the Father and the Spirit are involved in the work of sanctification (Jude 1; 2 Thessalonians 2.13; 1 Peter 1.2). The preservation of the saints is in the hands of both the Son and the Father so that the sheep are safely protected from perishing (John 10.27-30). The Bible speaks of the indwelling presence of all Three Divine Persons in God’s pilgrims (2 Corinthians 6.16-18; Colossians 1.27; John 14.17). Scriptures frequently identify the Spirit as the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost), but He is also identified as the Spirit of the Father, the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Christ (Matthew 10.17-20; Romans 8.9). In short, I readily admit, because of their overlapping operations, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the dealings of the Father, Son, and Spirit in the lives of the saints. What can be said of one can often be said of the others. Still, even in the overlaps, the Three are specifically identified as to who they are.
Second, let me deal with those aspects of salvation that are more readily distinguishable as to the role each Person plays. Let me state the primary function of each Person. When we think of what the Father does for His people we see Him primarily as the One who initiates the scheme of man’s salvation. When we think of what the Son does for His people we see Him primarily as the One who saves His people by paying their heavy sin-debt. When we think of what the Spirit does for His people we see Him primarily as the One who, first, makes them alive in Christ; and who, then, operates continually in their lives.
Chapter 1 of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is a good place to start in order to view the primary roles of the Father, Son, and Spirit in providing salvation to the saints. It also shows how the Three work harmoniously together in their primary roles. In verse 3 it is shown the Father “hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places,” and some of these blessings are enumerated in verses 4 through 6: He chose us before He laid the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless; He predestinated us to be His adopted children, and He accepted us. Yet, all of this was done, not apart from, but with full view of the Son’s redemptive work.
The blessings mentioned in verse 3 were given “in Christ.” The election, the adoption, and the acceptance were all in or by His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Notice what is presented here. The Son did not choose, predestinate, or accept the saints in the Father, or in the Spirit. The Father was the One who laid the scheme of salvation, but it was the Father’s work in Christ. Furthermore, the elect have obtained from the Father “an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will (verse 11).”
I have said all of this was done with the full view of Christ’s redemptive work. Notice verse 7. This verse speaks concerning the beloved Son’s work: “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” Mark this teaching. It is so clear; it is nearly impossible not to recognize the Son has a distinctive work that neither the Father nor the Spirit have. When Paul reminded the Corinthians what he had preached while he was among them, he did not tell them he preached the death, burial, and resurrection of the Father. He did not tell them he preached the death, burial, and resurrection of the Spirit. What he said was, “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15.3-4).”
These things are the exclusive work of the Son of God. Now, add to what is taught in Ephesians, chapter 1 the words of verses 13-14. Here, you will see the Spirit’s work: “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
By these verses in Ephesians, the reader can see some very clear distinctions in what each Person in the Godhead does to bring salvation to sinners.
Make this distinction. Out of love the Father took the lead role in overseeing the salvation of sinners. John shows the Father was moved to save us out of His great love for us: “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God (1 John 3.1).” The Father expressed this love by giving His Son to save believers among both Jews and Gentiles. Jesus said: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3.16).”
But the Son also loves sinners. Out of love, He gave Himself. Paul spoke of Christ, “who loved me, and gave himself for me (Galatians 2.20),” and John spoke of Christ as one “that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood (Revelation 1.5).”
Notice this. Both the Father and the Son love sinners, but this love is expressed differently. Out of love, the Father gave His only begotten Son. Out of love, the Son gave Himself. Each One acted within His own role to manifest this love.
The distinctions between the Father and the Son are evident in what is said in John, chapter 6. Jesus said: “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day (verses 37-38).” As the One who initiates salvation, the Father sent His Son into the world.
Mark this distinction. The Father is the sender. The Son is the One sent. What did the Father do? He gave a people to the charge of the One that He sent. I submit these are the same elect spoken of in Ephesians 1.4. What did Jesus say the ones given to Him would do? He said they would come to Him. How can this be stated with such certainty? It is certain because the Father would take the action to have them drawn to Christ. Jesus said: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day (verse 44).” He also said, “that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father (verse 65).” The Father would bestow upon them the gift of His drawing power to bring them to Christ.
Now, what was Jesus to do with those that were given to His charge? He said He would not cast them out. He left no room for doubt concerning this matter. He would “in no wise” cast them out. Mark further the distinction made here. As the Head in this relationship, the Father had a purpose for the Son. As one in subjection to His Father, the Son came not to do His own will but the Father’s will. What was that will? The Son was to fully deliver from the graves every last one of those the Father placed in His hands.
Not only are the distinctions clearly shown between the Father and the Son in this chapter, the words also convey the absolute unity of purpose between the Two. The Father drew them. The Son received them. When they come to Him He does not say they are too sinful to be in His presence. He does not say He prefers others more worthy than they. He does not try to change the Father’s will. He did not say He would do some things for them, but He would not see they are raised at the last day. No, there is perfect harmony between the Two. The One Jehovah, manifested here in the Persons of Father and Son, are in complete accord in the matter of the salvation of the elect.
I have said one of the primary operations of the Spirit is to make the saints alive in Christ. The Bible attributes regeneration to Him. Jesus pointed out to the Jews: “It is the Spirit that quickeneth (John 6.63).” Paul told Titus that the saving mercy of God was “by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost (Titus 3.5).” The Bible also attributes the birth from above to the Spirit. When Jesus told Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” and indicated this work is of the Spirit (John 3.3, 5-6), He taught the Spirit’s role in enabling people to see and enter into God’s kingdom. However, although the life-giving work is a principle function of the Holy Spirit, He does not have it as an exclusive function. I say this because both the Father and the Son are also involved in the work that makes men spiritually alive. James taught this work emanated from the Father when he wrote: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures (James 1.17-18).” However, from this text it still appears the Father acts within His primary role to superintend. He sees this work is done through “the word of truth.”
The Greek term for the “word” is “logos.” This is the same word that we have already reviewed when we looked at John 1.1. I would interpret this verse to say that the Father’s will was to beget us through the eternal Word. If this is the case, Christ, who is the Word, also is involved in giving heavenly life to the soul.
I have already quoted in part John 6.63. The full quote reads: “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” If a biblical distinction can be made between the Spirit and the Son in this matter it may be this. As a rule the Spirit is more apt to be directly associated with producing life: “It is the spirit that quickeneth.”
On the other hand, the word (or voice) of the Son is more apt to be associated with commanding life: “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”
Christ also had said: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live (John 5.24-25).” This text is not speaking about the resurrection of the body. That subject is introduced in verses 28-29. There, it is totally in the future; and there, it is speaking about those in the graves. Here, it not only is speaking about the present but it is also speaking about what is ongoing. The text says “is coming” as well as “now is.” Jesus is speaking about giving life to those dead in sins.
Regeneration and Effectual Calling are so interlocked together it is hard to separate the two. This may be what exists between the work of the Spirit and the work of the Son. During Christ’s ministry, His friend, Lazarus, had died. By virtue of his death, one would not expect him to be able to hear. Yet, when Jesus called him back to his natural life with the words, “Lazarus, come forth (John 11.43),” the call was definitely effectual as demonstrated by the fact he heard the command and responded. In substance, Christ commanded him to live again.
What happened? The spirit of life came to him again. Can this case illustrate what happens in the spiritual realm of things? The Spirit quickens, but it is the voice of Christ that those dead in their sins hear. Whatever the case may be the work of the Father, Son, and Spirit are so closely bound together in this matter it is hard to separate. Let this be clear. There is complete harmony in the work. The Spirit does not quicken souls that were not included in the Father’s will to beget with the word of truth.
I have also said the primary work of the Spirit is to operate continually in the lives of those who are made alive in Christ. The interactions of the Three Persons may be noted in Paul’s words to the Galatians: “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father (Galatians 4.4-6).”
True to what characterizes the Father in His overseeing the salvation of the saints, He sent His Son. True to what characterizes the Son as a Savior, He came into the world to redeem His people. Now, in this text the indwelling work of the Spirit is identified. He is in the hearts of the redeemed. Through Him, they cry out to the Father. The interactions of the Three Persons also are to be noted in the words of Christ to His disciples in scriptures we have already reviewed: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth (John 14.16-17).” Here, the Son, the first Comforter, indicated He would pray to the Father that He would provide them another Comforter. This Comforter, He identified as “the Spirit of truth.” This text refers to all Three Persons.
And then Christ said to the disciples: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you (John 16.13-14).” I hope I do not exaggerate the case when I say that any moment in which we feel the presence of the Lord, any instance in which we feel guided by the Lord, any time in which our eyes have been made to focus upon Christ Jesus, our Savior; and any occasion in which we are made to see a great truth; it is primarily the Spirit that has dealt with us.
Read the Acts of the Apostles and the various Epistles of the New Testament, and it should be abundantly evident that much of the glorious work of God performed in the world during Apostolic Times was attributed to the Spirit. So it is today.
With this I close this lengthy article. I acknowledge that I have only touched the surface concerning the Godhead. So many scriptures have not been used. So much more could have been said. Nonetheless, I hope this article has proven the points that I had set in my mind to show. That is, that there is but One God, who is manifested in the Divine and distinct Persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. With this I close as Paul closed his second letter to the Corinthians: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen (2 Corinthians 13.14).”
—Elder
David K. Mattingly
5407
Lambert Street
Indianapolis,
IN 46241-3426
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By Elder Lynwood Jacobs
I have been asked by a beloved brother, Elder Veldon Linn of
Buckhannon, West Virginia, to express my belief about the resurrection of the
body. The following is what I believe and why I believe as I do. I can only
hope that it is the truth and that God Himself is the source of my belief.
I believe in the omnipotent power of Christ given Him of the Father and in the bodily resurrection of God’s children in the image of Christ.
I believe that my body will be raised on that great resurrection morning with all them that are asleep in Jesus, whether in the sea, in the tomb, or scattered to the four winds.
I believe that Christ will change my vile body and fashion it like unto His glorious body, that I may come forth from the tomb in His glorious image.
I believe that just as the risen Christ was the
brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His person, so will I arise
in the glorious image of Christ that I may be one with Him and all of God’s
children.
I believe that my raised body will be an incorruptible,
glorified, spiritual body with power to ascend on high when reunited with that
spiritual life force called the Holy Ghost, given me of my Father.
I believe that I have ever been a child of God, and
that my pilgrimage on earth was ordained by God to perfect me for that day when
I shall go HOME to that eternal inheritance that I have in Christ Jesus, my
Lord, my Saviour, my Friend and beloved
elder Brother.
I believe that
I now have eternal life and that I may sleep in Jesus a thousand years which
will be no more to me than a moment, a twinkling of an eye, when He awakens me
from sleep as He did Lazarus.
I believe that I will hear that certain sound from that great trumpet that will announce His return to receive me unto Himself.
I believe that
I will see Christ and all of His Holy angels when he comes to separate His
sheep from the goats, and says to them on the right, “Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world.”
I believe I will enter that great city, the holy Jerusalem, and walk on
streets of gold that are as pure glass.
I believe that I will see the nail prints in His hands and feet, and behold His riven side, and see His precious head where the crown of thorns was laid.
I believe that I will join with the family of God
around that great white throne to sing songs of joy and render praises to God
and to the Lamb throughout all eternity in a world without end.
As we have born the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly according to the testimony of the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 15:49). Christ was made of a woman so he also bore the image of the earthly Adam when He was in this world. The risen Christ is the very image of God and we must be changed to bear the image of the heavenly Christ if we are children of God.
The Apostle Paul said, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable (1 Corinthians 15: 19).” In these few and simple words the Apostle expressed his belief in a life beyond the grave. He looked, as we look, for a better world where there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.
Christ said to his disciples, “And this is the will of
Him that sent me, that everyone who seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may
have everlasting life: And I will raise
him up at the last day (John 6:40).” In
this statement Christ tells us that there will be believers, and they shall be
resurrected at the last day. I cannot
deny my precious belief and strong hope that He is my Saviour and that He will
raise me up again on the last day. I know by experience that blind eyes cannot
see Him and that the seeing eye is alone of the Lord.
The apostle Paul wove together the foreknowledge and predestination
of God in one powerful verse of scripture:
“For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to
the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29).”
God
predestinated that His children
be conformed to the image of Christ who came out from God and took on
Himself, not the nature of angels, but
the seed of Abraham, then died, and rose from the dead the third day according to the power given
Him of the Father.
Job said, “For I know that my Redeemer liveth and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself and my eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me (Job 19:25-27).” Job’s risen body with eyes to behold Christ when He returns will not be a natural body, but a spiritual body with power to ascend on high. Job’s redeemer, righteous Abel’s redeemer, and our redeemer is the same, the Son of God, Jesus Christ who is alive forevermore.
Isaiah, inspired by God’s Spirit to speak as though he were God, said, “Fear not for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, give up; and to the south keep not back: Bring My sons from far and My daughters from the ends of the earth; Even everyone that is called by My name: for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him, yea, I have made him (Isaiah 43:5-7).” When Christ returns to receive God’s people unto Himself, they will come forth from wherever they are, whether corporally alive or dead. The children of God will rise and be carried on wings of love to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. These children God created for Himself, and they shall show forth His praise forever.
When speaking to his father, Christ said, “Father, I
will that they also whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they
may behold My glory, which thou has given Me: For thou lovedst Me before the
foundation of the world (John 17:24).”
It is the will of Christ that His brethren be with Him and see Him and
behold His glory, and so shall it be. We will be with him where He is now if we
be among those given to Him of the
Father before the world began. Then shall we see the King in His beauty
and behold the land that is very far off. What a glorious hope!
The apostle John said, “Beloved, now are we the sons
of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be: But when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see
Him as He is (1 John 3:2).” Men have
argued about what we shall be like in the resurrection. This scripture says that if we are His, we
shall come forth in His image, and according to king David, be satisfied when
we awake in His likeness. We may not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
For this mortal must put on immortality and this corruptible must put on
incorruption for death to be swallowed up in that victory over the grave that
God’s family have in Christ Jesus (See 1 Corinthians 15:53-57).
The apostle Paul said, “For our conversation is in
Heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may
be like unto His glorious body according to the working whereby He is able to
subdue all things unto Himself (Philippians 3:20-21).”
I believe that Christ has all power in Heaven and in
earth, even the power to change my vile body, raise it, and fashion it like
unto His glorious body, that it too may have form and function throughout the
ages.
The risen Christ appeared to his disciple and said
unto them, “Why are you troubled? And
why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
Behold my hands and feet, that it is I myself: Handle Me, and see; for a
spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see Me have (Luke 24:38-39).” When
Christ had thus spoken, He shewed them His hands and feet. They saw the nail prints and that His risen
body had both form and function, yet, they believed not that it was He until He
opened their understanding. When he saw
the risen Christ and was made to understand, even doubting Thomas was made to
cry out, “My Lord and my God.” When God
gives unto us that great Spirit of wisdom and revelation, and the eyes of our
understanding is enlightened, we too will joyfully cry out “My Lord and my God”
at His appearance.
Daniel was another of the prophets of old who believed in the resurrection of the body. He said, “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Although we may fear that we shall awake to the shame and contempt that we deserve, we have the hope that we will awake to everlasting life by the grace and mercy of God.
Paul asked, “Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?” Paul went on to make it plain that if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen, and if Christ is not risen, then they that are asleep in Jesus are perished. If the dead rise not we are forever condemned to the grave, and there is no reason to hope in Christ Jesus for that life and immortality that He brought to light through the gospel of peace.
“Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice,
yielded up the Ghost, and behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from
the top to the bottom: and the earth
did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened, and many bodies of
the saints which slept, arose and came out of the graves after His resurrection,
and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many (Matthew 27:50-53).”
Strangely, this event, second only to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead, is not mentioned by any of the other writers of the four gospels. Here,
by the power of God, many of His children arose from the grave with bodies that
had both form and function. How astonished must have been their friends and
loved ones to receive them from the grave. Oh! How great will be the rejoicing
of the angels in heaven when every sinner saved by grace comes forth from
mortality and rises to immortality. This scripture shows that death has no
power over the Saints of God.
“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23).” Christ promised to return again and receive every embodied Saint unto Himself, that where He is there may they be also. He didn’t promise to come receive spirits, but the whole package, those with soul and spirit and bodies preserved until His return.
The Apostle Paul said, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).” The Apostle Paul called the resurrection a mystery and the Apostle John says we will be like Him when He appears and our change comes. If we are His we shall be raised incorruptible when the trumpet sounds His return to earth. What a great hope that we will forever bear His image!
“Then He said unto me, son of man, these bones are the
whole house of Israel: behold, they
say, our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
Therefore prophesy and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O
my people, I will open your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I
have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in
your own land: then shall ye know that
I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord (Ezekiel 37:11-14).” This tells us that God will bring His people
out of the grave and set them in their own land, and they shall know that He is
not only their God but their Father. He will again fill them with His spiritual
love that has bound them forever to one another, to Christ, and to God.
“Women received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection (Hebrews 11:35).” Elisha raised from the dead the child of a Shumanite woman. Elijah raised from the dead the son of a widow that sustained him. How blessed were those Saints of old who could not curse God and be saved. I wonder how many today would deny Him to keep from becoming a meal for hungry lions?
Christ said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life (John 5:24).” Who is it that heareth His word? “He that is of God heareth God’s words (John 8:47).” He that hears God’s word believes according to the working of God’s mighty power. One that believes has everlasting life, and nothing can separate that one from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That one has been resurrected from a first death in trespasses and in sin to a newness of life in Christ. Over them the second death hath no power.
The apostle Paul described the resurrection of the dead as follows: “It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body…As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly….
“We shall not all sleep; but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye; the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 49-52).”
Christ said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour
is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and they that hear shall live (John 5:25).”
Did not Lazarus, who was “dead” hear the voice of the Son of God and
live? All of God’s children will hear
the voice of the Son of God on the resurrection morn because they are dead in
Christ, yea, asleep in Jesus, and they shall arise and live forevermore. Now, in this life, they receive a hearing
ear that they may know in part, but then they shall know as they are known.
Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection, and the
life: he that believeth on Me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live: And
whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believeth thou this (John 11:25-26)?” They may be dead in sin, but this will not prevent God’s spirit
from instilling life into His chosen generation, (not choosing
generation). At the appointed time of
the Father, they will be born again of an incorruptible spirit. This spirit is an eternal life force that
belongs eternally to those who receive it, though it may return to God who gave
it to await those words of Christ to our dead bones, “Live, I say live, arise
and manifest the fruits of a Holy Spirit that will forever replace mortal blood
in your living body.”
Christ said, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation (John 5:25-29).” Even the Pharisees believed in the resurrection of both the just and the unjust. The apostle John saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. He saw those whose names were not written in the book of life judged according to their (dead) works. All were cast into the lake of fire except those whose names were found written in the book of life. Those saints were judged according to the work of God, because it is the work of God that we believe on Jesus Christ. Those saints were judged according to the finished work of Christ who died for their sins once in the end of the world.
Paul said, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope (1 Thessalonians 5:13).” When the God of hope fills us with all joy and peace in believing, then we may abound in hope through the power of His Holy Spirit. Then we sorrow not, but are made to accept His will in all things.
Paul added, “For if we believe that Jesus died and arose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him (1 Thessalonians 5-14).” Christ is going to return, according to His promise and receive His people unto Himself that where He is there they may be also. The family of God will rise as one to meet the Lord in the air.
Paul finished by saying, “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 4:16-17).” What a glorious hope! As many as were ordained unto eternal life will go home to that city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
The above scriptures, coming through the Prophets and Apostles, and above all from Christ Jesus Himself, lend support to my belief and strengthen my hope that I will come forth from the grave with a body that has both form and function and that I will arise in the image of my precious Saviour.
—Elder Lynwood Jacobs
Jasper, Texas 75951-9658
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MALACHI AND
THE LEAVENED BREAD OF MATTHEW 13.33
By Elder C. C. Morris
In the preceding installment the kingdom of heaven was examined from the viewpoint of the fourth parable in Matthew 13, that of the kingdom of heaven’s being likened unto “leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened.” I left off with the hope of looking into other texts, of which there are many, to expand upon the meaning of this parable.
FAULTY REASONING
Men have consistently been inconsistent in their expressions of Bible symbolism. Some, confronted with a text with words or expressions they do not understand, say the first thing that pops into their heads. (Paul referred to “the foolishness of preaching”; he was not recommending foolish preaching.)
Others, without diligently searching and comparing the Scriptures, as the Berean church did daily, to see “whether those things were so (Acts 17.11),” merely repeat what they have heard others say.
Many expositors, coming upon this text in Matthew 13.33 specifically, say the leaven is the gospel, the three measures of meal in one way or another represent the world, and the leavening of the meal is therefore the conversion of the world to Christianity by means of the preaching of the gospel message.
Where do men get such ideas? Not from the Bible. Leaven, we have seen, is never a biblical figure of the gospel or of anything else that is good. Leaven is always used in the Old and New Testament Scriptures as a figure of sin and sinful principles that corrupt by first puffing up and then by spoiling. Leaven as a figure of the principle of corruption is clearly documented in almost every reference to it in the Bible.
LEVITICUS 2: THE MEAL OFFERING
Meal is a picture of the spiritual food that God’s children eat, a feeding on Christ Jesus Himself as the bread of life, and feeding on His gospel and the doctrine of Christ. He is the saints’ spiritual food.
Meal or fine flour was the chief ingredient of the “Meat” (literally meal) offering in Leviticus 2; unleavened meal, along with oil (which is always a type of the Holy Spirit) and frankincense (one of the gifts the magi brought to the young Christ, along with gold and myrrh, Matthew 2.11), which bespeaks the sweet, invisible (spiritual) presence of Christ. Frankincense and myrrh, spices used in embalming, also speak of His suffering and death.
There was no animal flesh (what we call meat) in this “meat offering.” Read Leviticus 2 (it is only sixteen verses), substituting the word meal wherever the word meat occurs. Check the marginal rendering (if your Bible has one) of the word “meat.”
You will note in verse 4 that there was to be no leaven in this offering. Verse 11 says, “No meat [meal] offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire.” Strange indeed, if leaven were a figure of the gospel, which it is not.
MORE MEAL
It was meal that was cast into the stewpot to neutralize the poison of the wild gourds (2 Kings 4.38-41). Strange indeed, if the three measures of meal were a figure of the nations of the world, which they are not; or if the three measures were a figure of “Jew, Gentile, and the Church of God,” which they are not; or if the meal were a figure of the “Eastern Orthodox church, Roman Catholicism, and the rise of Protestantism,” which it is not.
THE WOMAN, GOOD OR BAD?
Woman, in the good sense, is a figure or type Israel, the Old Testament wife of Jehovah (Jeremiah 3.14, Revelation 12.1), and of the New Testament church as the bride of Christ. But it was not the church that hid the gospel in the world. The notion that the parable typifies the church hiding the gospel in the world breaks down immediately in every point:
First, it is not the church, because the picture of leaven is a picture of evil, not good, and the true church of Christ would not be hiding evil in the world.
Second, if leaven were good, why would she be hiding it?
Third, it was not a woman, but it was God who put the gospel within the church and providentially disbursed it throughout the world.
Fourth, the church is identified with proclaiming the gospel, not hiding it.
Fifth, as before pointed out, leaven is only used in the Bible as a figure of sin and corruption.
Sixth, the meal represents the Lord Jesus Christ as the food that God’s children feed upon; it in no way represents the ones who are actually feeding on the bread of God.
Seventh, the world has never been converted to Christ and is not going to be converted to Him by the gospel church; hence, the postmillennial notion of “the gospel leaven converting the world and ushering in the kingdom” falls flat at every point. The “missionary” ideal is a monstrous failure.
THE BAD WOMAN
In the Bible, it is sad to say, the woman in the bad sense is quite often identified with sin, corruption, the false church, and false doctrine. We name a few to illustrate this point:
1. Starting with Eve, Eve usually gets the blame for the fall of the Adamic race into sin, even though Paul clearly says, “For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression (1 Timothy 2.13f).”
2. Semiramis, early queen of Babylon, was perhaps the fountainhead of all corrupt religion from the time of Shem and Abraham through every succeeding age:
The Chaldean Mysteries can be traced up to the days of Semiramis, who lived only a few centuries after the flood, and who is known to have impressed upon them the image of her own depraved and polluted mind. That beautiful but abandoned queen of Babylon was not only herself a paragon of unbridled lust and licentiousness, but in the Mysteries which she had a chief hand in forming, she was worshipped as Rhea, the great “MOTHER” of the gods, with such atrocious rites as identified her with Venus, the Mother of all impurity, and raised the very city where she had reigned to a bad eminence among the nations, as the grand seat at once of idolatry and consecrated prostitution. In 1825, Pope Leo XII “struck a medal bearing on the one side his own image, and on the other, that of the Church of Rome symbolized as a ‘Woman,’ holding in her left hand a cross, and in her right a CUP, with the legend around her, ‘Sedet super universum,’ ‘The whole world is her seat.’ Now the period when Semiramis lived—a period when the patriarchal faith was still fresh in the minds of men, when Shem was still alive to rouse the minds of the faithful to rally around the banner for the truth and cause of God—made it hazardous all at once and publicly to set up such a system as was inaugurated by the Babylonian queen. (“The Two Babylons,” Alexander Hislop, page 5f.)
3. In Revelation 17-18 we see the direct divine judgment of God bringing to her end this same Mystery Babylon, represented as a whore (a woman clad in scarlet, sitting on the beast-government of the world) and all of her harlot daughters (Revelation 17.1-6, etc.).
Other examples of women in the Bible who introduce corruption are
4. Jezebel, that wicked queen and wife of king Ahab, was a pattern for all false teachers in all succeeding ages. Since idolatry is spiritual adultery against God, false worship is often called whoredom in the Bible. Jezebel was identified thus by Jehu when he was exterminating all the descendants of Ahab and Jezebel. As he killed Joram, Jehu shouted, “What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many (2 Kings 9.22)?” These two words, “whoredoms” and “witchcrafts,” are brought together again in Nahum 3.4: “Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.”
Jezebel’s name is used to identify a teacher of false doctrine, probably a woman, in the church at Thyatira (Revelation 2.20). She had introduced an ever-increasing number of works in her leavened “salvation by works” system: “I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last [works] to be more than the first.” “Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.”
5. “Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base (Zechariah 5.9-11).” Read Zechariah 5, the entire chapter; it is just eleven verses. It involves “the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth,” scarcely a local tribal thing.
Two is the number of witness (Deuteronomy 17.6; Matthew 18.16); these two women, then, are bearing false witness (Compare Matthew 26.60f).
Shinar is a plain in the vicinity of Babylon, where Nimrod built the original tower of Babel (Genesis 10.10), where Semiramis built Mystery Babylon, mother of all cult religions and devil worship from then till now, and where modern Baghdad now sits relatively few miles north of the original city of ancient Babylon. The stork-winged women are carrying a basket; the basket contained another woman (verse 7) who is wickedness (verse 8).
The stork is an unclean bird, like the unclean birds of Christ’s earlier parables of the fowls that devoured the seed that was sown (Matthew 13.4, 19) and the unclean birds lodging in the branches of the mustard seed tree (Matthew 13.32): “And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle...and the vulture, and the kite after his kind; every raven after his kind; and the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckoo, and the hawk after his kind, and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, and the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat (Leviticus 11.13-19; also see Deuteronomy 14.18).”
SYMBOLISM AND EXPERIENCE
There is a consistency in the Scriptures not to be found among expositors who have their own agenda to promote. Usually their agenda has to do with promoting their own brand of Arminianism, Conditionalism, denominationalism, or some combination thereof. Conditionalists tell us these unclean birds are merely “unfaithful children of God” who had better shape up and do right before it is too late: “You crows can be doves, if you want to be.”
For those of us who by God’s grace have been given to see ourselves as vile sinners, it is easy enough to see how we might think of ourselves as unclean birds seeking refuge in the “gospel tree.” Realizing that Conditionalism is a religion of the carnal mind, however, it is also easy to see why Conditionalists erroneously say these unclean birds are “unfaithful children of God”; but the typology throughout the Scriptures simply will not sustain their mistake. Remember, too, there may be many applications of a Bible verse, but there is only one interpretation that is in correct harmony with the rest of the Book.
True, in his vision, Peter saw those of God’s people who are Gentiles by nature as “all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.” That is only as they are in their fallen nature and not as they are viewed in Christ Jesus. For example: After naming off all manner of wickedness to the church of Corinth (“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God”), Paul then adds, “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6.9ff).”
God’s church is perfected in, by, and through the imputed and imparted righteousness of Christ. To Him, she is “my sister [because they have the same Father], my love, my dove, my undefiled (Song of Solomon 5.2).” A dove (turtledove), and undefiled at that, is numbered among the clean birds. As such, a dove was an acceptable sacrifice, typical of Christ and His people in their harmlessness: “O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever (Psalm 74.19).” Christ is “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens (Hebrews 7.26)”; “be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves (Matthew 10.16).”
I have reviewed at length and expanded upon the essential points of
Matthew 13.33 here because erroneous views are so prevalent in the world and
even among those professing to be Primitive Baptists. This is the very thing that is prophesied in Christ’s words, “till
the whole was leavened”!
Opposition to what I wrote in the last installment was not long in
coming. Since our last issue was
mailed, we have received a gift from a Conditionalist Elder, a tape of his
sermon in which he takes it upon himself to set forth his views about how wrong
my article was. Before hearing his
tape, I had thought Conditionalism, on the scale of Arminianism, was barely one
step above Campbellism. After hearing
his tape, I owe the followers of Alexander Campbell a minor apology. Conditionalism is at least one step worse,
if not more, than the Campbellite position.
Further comments on this man’s taped messages will be reserved for a
future issue of The Remnant when
we, Lord willing, examine the objections to our unequivocal position
that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are two different
kingdoms.
The last installment ended with a proposal to continue looking into this subject of the leaven’s being a pollution of the unleavened meal, the doctrine and gospel upon which God’s children feed.
The meal is Christ Jesus Himself, His gospel, and His doctrine; not that Christ Jesus, or His gospel in its essense can be polluted or corrupted, but the presentation thereof can be and often is.
Christ spoke of Himself as typified by a grain of wheat in John 12.24: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” Falling to the ground and dying is only one part of the picture. His people were chosen in Him eternally, and the triune God never viewed them as separate and apart from Him. The grinding of the wheat, in the pain and agony He suffered, was His bearing the crushing, grinding wrath of God the Father against the sins of His people whom He was bearing in Himself, even on the cross. Jeremiah speaks of this internal crushing in Lamentations 1.15: “The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.” (The grinding of the wheat and the treading of the winepress are but two of the biblical pictures of the wrath of God against sin.) But the wrath of God never reached His people, because Jesus bore that wrath for them. “For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached Thee are fallen upon me (Psalm 69.9).” He cried, “It is finished!” Now, as if His righteousness, power, love, purpose, grace, intercession, sweat, agony, tears, atonement, and finished work were somehow not enough, Conditionalism and Arminianism (sisters of Jezebel and harlot daughters of Mystery Babylon that they are) bid us add something to His finished work by our own concern, efforts, work, tears, and sweat.
MALACHI 1
Let us look at the religious corruption that continued in the time of Malachi, last of the Old Testament prophets. Even after the Jews returned from the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities under the leadership of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel, they continued to corrupt the commands of the Lord.
We are told that Old Testament Israel is “a type of the church.” So be it. Was Israel triumphant, then, or did she go down in apostasy? You know the answer, and national Israel in her final days of apostasy (from Malachi’s time to her dispersion in 70 AD) is a fit picture of the final descent of nominal Christianity in the church’s Laodicean period in which we now live. National Israel, in the centuries preceding Christ’s first coming, surely parallels the nominal church of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, preceding His second coming.
From Malachi’s day, in the centuries preceding Christ’s first coming, Israel—complacent, decadent, presumptuous—maintained an outward show and profession of religion according to the law of Moses; but it was an external profession only.
In our day, preceding Christ’s second coming, so-called Christianity maintains an outward show and profession of religion according to the gospel, but it is an external profession only. Churchmen speak of another Jesus and another gospel, “Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ (Galatians 1.7).” “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works (2 Corinthians 11.13ff).” How do they do this? Look to the type, Israel in Malachi’s day, to see.
In Malachi 1.6, Jehovah God speaks to the priests of 400 BC: “A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name.”
First, they did not honor God as their Father. Nominally, the religious leaders professed to honor God as the father of their nation, but practically, they honored Abraham and Moses more than they honored God. Jesus said to the Pharisees of His day, “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men (Matthew 15.7-9).” As it was then, so it is now, by and large.
Second, they did not fear God as their Lord (Master). The Hebrew word is Adonai, one of the Hebrew names of God. Adonai means an absolute owner and master. Instead of fearing “Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10.28),” they fulfilled the indictment, “There is no fear of God before their eyes (Romans 3.18).” As then, so it is now. The concept of Christ’s LORDship has been almost totally abandoned by Churchianity.
Next, the Lord exposes their mock indignation: “And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?” The Lord answers in at least seven points:
1—Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar (verse 7): The first evidence of the priesthood’s despising the name of God was offering polluted bread! The very first indictment is their offering polluted bread on God’s altar. This correlates to the leavened meal of Matthew 13.33. The bread, from the Levitical law to Malachi, is supposed to typify Christ as the bread of life. The Jewish priests had offered unclean bread in their day. This typifies the corrupted “bread of life” as presented by the corrupt priesthood of the twentieth and twenty-first century “Christianity”: Modern denominations preach a helpless, mild-mannered Jesus that will not violate your precious will, a Lord that cannot save, and a Christ upon whom a truly hungry soul cannot feed.
An illustration from nature, that of modern, degerminated “white bread,” is long overdue. To make white flour and white bread instead of furnishing its customers with pure, whole-grain flour and bread, the modern bread industry first removes all of the God-given, life-sustaining qualities of wheat by degerminating each kernel and polishing away the outer surface of the grain with its bran, vitamins, and minerals, leaving only the inner, pasty, empty carbohydrates. Then, to “improve” this useless paste, they add synthetic vitamins, minerals and preservatives. Called “the staff of life,” this gummy mass is the staff of death. I have photographs in my files of experimental lab rats that starved to death with full bellies—on a diet of nothing but white loaf bread and water. A control group of rats fed on nothing but genuine, whole wheat bread and water not only remained alive, but they were sleek, happy, active, and healthy in every way.
What does that mean to us? It is my personal belief and contention that there is always a parallel between the natural and the spiritual realms. Religion has done the same thing with the doctrine of Christ, first robbing it of its life-sustaining truth, and then impregnating it with their own brand of synthetic “works” vitamins and minerals. Even as false religion has preached a devitalized gospel of Christ, a devitalized doctrine, and a devitalized Bread of Life, removing all of the spiritually life-sustaining nourishment of the gospel from their preaching, God has so given the world a natural “bread” to parallel the apostasy of the church. And then, as the apostate religions of Churchianity have added their own works, means, methods, and madness to improve on the old original gospel doctrine recipe, so God has given the world a dough-ball with calcium propionate added to retard spoilage.
2—And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? (verse 8) And,
3—if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? (verse 8)
The priests of Malachi’s day were offering animals that were blind, lame,
and sick, instead of “a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter
1.19).” This foreshadowed the modern
“Jesus” being proclaimed throughout the world today who is no less blind, lame,
and sick. This modern savior, darling
of pop radio preachers and televangelists and hero of “gospel quartet” jazz
ditties, is no savior at all. He wants
to be a savior, but he cannot save, because he is too weak and too polite, and
man is too strong and stubborn for him. The modern Jesus proclaimed by
Arminianism cannot overcome the insurmountable obstacle of “the free will of
man,” to hear these blasphemers tell it.
Offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept
thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. Would the governor of Texas or of Wyoming be
satisfied with a barbecued steer that died of hoof and mouth disease or
undulant fever? Would the governor of
New York be pleased to know his steak came from a cow that died of mad cow’s
disease? If not, then why should anyone
expect God to be satisfied with the sickly, ineffectual sacrifice proclaimed
today by the religious leaders of the world?
Blind? Really? Does anyone really teach that God and Christ cannot see? Yes. Even in Ezekiel’s day, the apostate priesthood was saying, “The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth (Ezekiel 8.12).” The situation has not improved one iota since Ezekiel’s day. Open Theism is perhaps the latest apostasy to hit the market-place of modern religion. “Open Theists” proclaim that God does not know the future until we reveal it to him by our choices; that he makes mistakes, and he tries one thing after another to see what he might do to get people to cooperate with him. A quick search on the Internet turned up 20,300 references to Open Theism (pro and con, I should add). The first website flagged was http://www.opentheism.org/, where I found on their first page, under the heading “The General Tenets of Open Theism” the following:
“God, in grace, grants humans significant freedom to
cooperate with or work against God’s will for their lives, and he enters into
dynamic, give and take relationships with us. The Christian life involves
genuine interaction between God and human beings. We respond to God’s gracious
initiatives and God responds to our responses . . . and on it goes. God
takes risks in this give-and-take relationship, yet he is endlessly
resourceful and competent in working toward his ultimate goals. Sometimes God
alone decides how to accomplish these goals. On other occasions, God works
with human decisions, adapting his own plans to fit the changing situation. God
does not control everything that happens. Rather, he is open to receiving input
from his creatures. In loving dialogue, God invites us to participate with
him to bring the future into being.” (Dr. John Sanders, The Openness of
God)
(Bold emphasis supplied—CCM)
To quote more of this atheism pretending to be religion is unnecessary
for now as it would take us too far afield.
The information is available for anyone who has a computer with internet
access. If the reader does not have
such access, at least be aware that the world and the nominal church are united
in the world’s atheism and religion’s apostasy.
Jeremiah in his day faced the presentation of just such a weak would-be
savior. He wrote, “Why shouldest thou
be AS a man astonied [dumbfounded, astonished], AS a mighty man that
cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by
thy name; leave us not (Jeremiah 14.9).”
That is how Christ is presented nowadays: Perplexed, confused, astonished, dumbfounded, helpless, having
done all He can, trying to save everyone He can, but He cannot do it because
people won’t let Him, or they won’t help Him get His job done. He has done His part, but we won’t do
ours! He is preached and presented AS a
“mighty man,” oh, yes; but they say of this mighty man, “He has done everything
He can, but He cannot save you unless you let Him.” That is how He is presented and preached in almost all of
Churchianity today.
“YET,” Jeremiah adds. Yet
there was and is a remnant, then, now, and in every age, who in their
helplessness cry out, “Yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are
called by thy name; leave us not!”
When the priesthood of national Israel went astray, there was a remnant
according to the election of grace. In
our day, when the priesthood of “Christianity” has gone astray, there remaineth
a remnant according to the election of grace.
“Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we
should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah (Isaiah
1.9).” Is it not significant
that in the decline of nations, whether it was
national Israel, ancient Greece,
Imperial Rome, or the nations of this world in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, they nearly always
gravitate to sodomy and glorify it before God destroys them?
4—This hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? (verse 9): One of the early appellations of the Missionary Baptists in the 1800s was “Means Baptists,” because they introduced into Baptist ranks the idea that God cannot—or will not—save anyone, even His own elect, without the use of means: preaching, evangelism, Bible distribution societies, tracts, Sunday schools, and you name it. To expand upon this would require an article in itself, a project we must pass by for now, other than to say this: (a) Look at and listen to the modern missionary movements of all denominations today, (b) see what means they advocate and practice, and (c) see just how successful they and their means have been in “taking the world for Christ.”
5—Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought (verse 10). It is a sad commentary on Churchianity that what the humble Old Baptist deacons have quietly done for untold centuries—locking and unlocking the doors, building fires in wood stoves (or in more recent years lighting gas heaters or starting furnaces) on winter mornings, mowing the yards and keeping the grounds, maintaining the buildings, often at their own expense—these duties have now degenerated to salaried positions as janitors and caretakers in the huge churches throughout the land. Thank the Lord for those deacons among the Old Baptists who still go on caring for their charge as they have since the days of the apostolic church. And thank the Lord for those among us who, though they have never been ordained or publicly recognized as being deacons, have nevertheless done the same when their little churches have had no deacon present.
6—ye have profaned it [God’s Holy name], in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat [any food to eat], is contemptible [disesteemed] (verse 12): With the false doctrine of will worship that has leavened Christianity, there is a modern contempt for feeding upon Christ alone. The profaning of Jesus’ name is the same, the profaning of God’s name. “She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins (Matthew 1.21).” Jesus means “Jehovah saves,” or “Salvation is of Jehovah.” That fact, that Jesus alone saves completely and successfully all for whom He stands as Covenant Representative, is universally denied by all modern “means” churches.
7—“Behold, what a weariness [trouble] is it!” They were saying. And ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering (verse 13). It was too much bother and expense to bring the perfect sacrifices, typifying a perfect Christ the Savior, as required by the law of Moses. “And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God (Deuteronomy 15.21).”
Cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing (verse 14): Those who preach a gospel and a Christ that is less than a perfect Savior offer a corrupt thing, tainted by the leaven of sin; and those who do so are cursed. “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed (Galatians 1.8f).” “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema [accursed] Maranatha [Our Lord Cometh!] (1 Corinthians 16.22).”
It is with these things in mind that I say the leaven is the corrupting influence that has brought the world and what is called Christianity to the sorry state of affairs we behold today. So far from being “out of the Lord’s will,” it is God’s predestinated purpose that it be so. So far from trying to get everyone to cooperate with Him, He has proved and is proving in every age, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4.12).” THAT IS THE POINT! That is what this entire seven-thousand year divine demonstration is all about: God has not failed; the whole is leavened. Adam failed. Noah failed. Abraham, Isaac, and Israel failed. David and Solomon and the kings of Israel and of Judah failed. The church, per se, has failed. Society, civilization, religion, education, morality, science, politics—all have failed. You and I have failed. God has not failed, but in every age He has proved His point: “Without me ye can do nothing (John 15.5).” In Hosea 13.9, the nation of Israel is only a typical example, a microcosm of all creation when God says, “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thine help.”
—Elder C. C. Morris
E-Mail: ccmorris@the-remnant.com
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By Elder Bruce Atkisson
The grace of God is displayed in no greater theme than in his plan of redemption. When and where this plan was first purposed and implemented is a point of contention between Old School Predestinarians and Conditionalists. The scriptures supply an abundance of information to the children of God on this important facet of the sovereignty of the three-in-one God.
Reflection upon the eternal attributes of Jehovah should prepare the child of grace for the study of the Scriptures concerning the grace of God in redemption. It is only in the light of this understanding that anyone can view the Lord’s purpose in the salvation of fallen man. May the Lord enlighten the minds of his people to understand what the scriptures of eternal truth testify to on this matter.
The book of Genesis records the creation of the world and all the creatures therein. The beginnings of man and how he came to be are included, along with his fall into condemnation and misery. These conditions Adam also brought upon all creation when sin entered into the world. It is clear that all the world was cursed in the transgression of the command, that God gave to the first man. Please read the first three chapters of the book of Genesis.
To one that is familiar with the Bible and illuminated
by the Holy Spirit it should be clear that if the Sovereign Lord of all
creation had so desired, the fall of man and original sin would never have
occurred. If it had pleased God, he
could have kept man from transgression in many ways: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil could never have
existed; or man could have been made immutable, or as the elect angels.
Many are the speculations that could be made, but it
is evident that it was the will of an omnipotent God that man should sin. Now there are many upon reading this
statement, who would immediately cry in shock and disgust, “You have made God
the author of sin!” The sovereignty of
God makes it impossible for anyone to make God anything that he is not. “Nay
but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God (Romans 9.20)?” Does he not have a right to do with his own
what he will? It is the natural man
that cannot receive these things, for they are foolishness to him (see 1
Corinthians 2.14).
The only conclusion that the Christian can come to is that it was the Lord’s will that sin enter the world, and death by sin (see Romans 5.12). Though there are many religionists in the world that deny the doctrine of original sin, it is clearly taught in the Bible. “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions (Ecclesiastes 7.29).” In this verse it is demonstrated that man’s heart devises his way, but it is Jehovah that directs his steps (see Proverbs 16.9).
“For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not (Ecclesiastes 7.20).” Equally plain is the lesson that “...all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3.23).”
Therefore the declaration made in the morning of time, by the God of creation is found to be true; “...for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die [dying thou shalt die] (Genesis 2.17).”
An argument made by those that deny this doctrine is that dying infants are automatically “saved” because not only are they free of original sin, since it doesn’t exist, they say, but neither are they guilty of actual transgressions. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me (Psalm 51.5).” King David testifies of the sin in which and with which we come into the world.
To this writer’s mind, the King of Saints saves all his elect in one and the same way; whether they are infants savagely ripped from their mothers’ wombs by the evil that men do such things, or they are children battered and neglected by those unfit to be parents; or they are those who live a life of sin to be old and gray. It is only the precious blood of Jesus Christ shed for his beloved bride that can save any one of them.
(a) Having found revealed in the sacred book the doctrine of original sin, or the fall of man, (b) having seen that the curse Adam brought upon himself affects all of his race, and (c) realizing that it was the will of God that it should be just as it was and no other way, then the results of the curse that the first man brought upon his children must be briefly examined.
Misery is a chief consequence of original sin. All of God’s children, whether they want to or not, experience this aspect of the curse. “....man is born unto trouble...(Job 5.7).” and again “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble (Job 14.1).” Sadness and depression over the conditions of existence are part of the normal human condition; to a lesser or greater degree, all experience these. These are in the world because of sin.
Spiritually and morally, man is separated (dead) from God. This is part of that death spoken of by the Creator in the garden after Adam sinned. The result of this separation and death is that man can no longer please God in any way. “And you...who were dead in trespasses and sins...alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works...(Ephesians 2.1 and Colossians 1.21).”
The reason for this now is because “...the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be (Romans 8.7).” Adam’s posterity are all born into this world as natural, fleshly, unspiritual men, (see Romans 3.10-18). Spiritually dead man absolutely cannot please God: “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8.8).”
The mortality of man is another result of the fall. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned (Romans 5.12).” Because of the sinful nature and actions of man, death is the great reward. “For the wages of sin is death....(Romans 6.23).” It has been said that death is the “great equalizer.” Surely from man’s point of view this is true. Whether rich or poor; no matter what race, religion, or position in life, death comes to all because of sin.
Thus far has been shown the terrible position that man resides in because of the entrance of sin into this world. It is clear that in the sovereign, eternal purpose of the Almighty, this condition is by his immutable will. Equally evident, is that the three-in-one God did not leave his chosen and foreknown people in this awful condition. The manifestation of his eternal plan of redemption was clearly revealed in the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“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: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace (Ephesians 1.3-7).”
I know of no Old School Predestinarian Baptist, when enlightened by grace to receive it, that does not feel a thrill up his spine when reading the above text.
What peace and comfort the soul experiences, when one is made to feel that he or she is one of these chosen ones. Here the plan of redemption is clearly revealed, and that its beginnings were in eternity with the Godhead is without doubt. That the saints were chosen in Christ (not to be in Christ) is of particular interest to the saints. That a particular people are addressed and referred to is of great comfort. The conditional, will-worshipping religionists should take note that the saints are made accepted in the beloved, and not the other way around. “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3.24).”
Free Grace, what a charming sound, as the old hymn says. If grace were not freely bestowed upon the children of God, they would have no hope at all. The condemnation of everlasting fire and punishment would be upon all the race of man, if it were not for the electing love of the Father and the dying love of the Son. But thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ (1Thessalonians 5.9).
The work of the Holy Spirit is not to be overlooked nor excluded; for it is by God the Holy Spirit’s applying the benefits of the finished work of the Christ to the elect that they are experimentally brought into union (which union is eternal) with Christ.
All of the graces of the Spirit are freely and unconditionally given to the children of God in some measure. “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).” The direct operation of the Spirit of God is what manifests, or reveals, to the saints whatsoever things they require in time, for communion with God.
The worldly religionists and Conditionalists view these things as requirements for salvation; the Bible teaches that such things the subjects of grace experience in their daily Christian walk (conviction of sin and their worthless condition, faith and belief in Christ, understanding of spiritual truths, and good works) are all spiritual fruits or graces, which come as a direct result of God’s working in them to will and to do of his own pleasure (see Philippians 2.12-13 and Galatians 5.22-23).
The eternal purpose of God is revealed throughout the finished work of Jesus Christ and applied to the elect in all ages by the mighty workings of God the Holy Spirit. “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).”
Truly, what peace the children of grace receive when overshadowed by the Spirit’s presence, which convinces them of these precious truths as revealed in scripture. Nevertheless, “…a man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven (John 3.27).” May the God of all grace reveal to his children what he would have them to know.
—Elder
Bruce Atkisson
P.
O. Box 982
Talladega,
AL 35161-0982
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