And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Luke 1:76-79.
The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. Matt. 4:16.
For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. Matt. 13:17.
How that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery [the Gospel]; . . . which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men, as it hath now been revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; . . . unto me . . . was this grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the stewardship of the mystery which from all ages hath been hid in God who created all things; to the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the purpose of the ages which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Eph. 3:5-11, R.V., margin.
The same increase of light is shown in Rev. 5:1-9, where the opening of the book of the Gospel, the revealing of the saving truth of God, was accomplished by the overcoming and death of Christ. The church had dropped the robes of lesser light in types and shadows, and was garbed in the greater radiance of clear fulfilment.
There is another significance to the expression "arrayed with the sun." Jesus Christ is called "the Sun of righteousness." Mal. 4:2. When transfigured, "His raiment became shining, exceeding white." Mark 9:3. The church is espoused to Him. Rom. 7:4; 2 Cor. 11:2. He clothes her in His own royal robes, invests her in His own apparel, bestows upon her His own name. See Isa. 61:10; Rev. 19:8; Ps. 45:13. The glorious dress of the church eighteen centuries ago was but the outshining of the glory — Christ's righteousness — within. And so the church is represented in the heaven, in perfect congruity with her dress, as also her spiritual station.
CROWN OF TWELVE STARS.—That the church had conquered in some great struggle is represented by the crown, the twelve stars representing both the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles, who in the glorious restitution will rule over the twelve tribes (Matt. 19:28), the names of whom are in the foundations of the eternal city (Rev. 21:14).
4. HER CONDITION.—"And she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered." This represents a condition previous to her victory, previous to her crowning, previous to her being clothed with the sun. "She WAS with child," and during this time she was in pain to be delivered. The figure is a forcible one and known to7all. Some minds may be shocked at the simile that the prophet uses, but it will be only those wrongly educated or whose minds have become basely corrupt, who look upon marriage as a license to gratify lust, and the begetting and bringing forth of children as libidinous and shameful, instead of the important and blessed and holy thing which God designed it should be. "Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled." In early times it was considered by holy women a disgrace to be without offspring,—offspring legitimate, begotten of their own lawful husbands, developing unselfishness in their own lives, strengthening love for each other, and enlarging the heart with almost infinitely tender and strong outreachings for blessing and power to bestow upon the lives of their lives. The figure is too serious and too sacred to every one born of woman for low jest or vile thought. There are no longings so great as those in the heart of the true mother before her child is born. Her pain, her anguish at the time of its birth, is not alone for herself, but for him in whom she is to be glorified.
So the church, with a hundredfold intensity, is represented as longing with pain and anguish for her Child. Not only is He to be her glory, but her Deliverer.
When Did This Travailing Begin?
The church of God as an organized body came into existence when God delivered His people out of Egypt and adopted them for His own, in order that they might serve Him by revealing Him to the world, and so save others. For that purpose He bestowed upon them "the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants [old and new], and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises." But He did it all that His people might reveal His glory, His law, His covenants, His service, to others, that others also might receive His adoption. And so the Lord said, "I was an husband unto them."
As long as God's people were faithful to Him they prospered. This prosperity reached its earthly climax under the reigns of David and Solomon, each of whom was a type of Christ. From that time the glory began to decline. The ten-tribe kingdom was subverted; only the tribe of Judah, to whom the promise of the Shiloh was made, remaining independent, having her own king, and preserving the true worship of God. In her back-sliding the Lord chastened her, and in returning to Him He prospered her, till at last her wickedness grew so great that the Lord removed from her His protecting arm, and the daughter of Zion was carried to Babylon. (See 2 Chron. 36: 14-21.)
In the Babylonian humiliation began the travailing of the church, the anguish, the crying, the longing for the Deliverer. Her condition in captivity is thus set forth:
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? Ps. 137:1-4.
In Jerusalem, obedient to God, she could sing His praise in the joy and prosperity of His presence. In captivity she mourned for the things she had lost, and longed for the Deliverer: "O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!" Ps. 14: 7. She waited with anxiety for the coming of "the Desire of all nations."
The prophet Micah, contemporary with Isaiah, after referring to the wickedness in Judah among priest and prophet, as it existed in the time just preceding her captivity, as shown by Jeremiah, predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the people, as well as the restoration. Thus he speaks of the church as she was going into the captivity, and was surrounded by her foes:
Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counselor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a women in travail. Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon. Micah 4:9, 10.
A little farther along in his prophecy, after referring to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), the prophet again refers to the time this anguish, pain, longing, and travailing are to continue, in these words:
Therefore will He give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth; then the remnant of His brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. Verse 3.
The anguish and travail began, therefore, at the time the people of God — the daughter of Zion — went into captivity to Babylon, about six hundred years before Christ, and terminated when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Then was manifest the Shiloh of the tribe of Judah, to whom the gathering of the nations should be, and not to a literal king at Jerusalem on earth.
We have learned thus far that the woman of Rev. 12: 1, 2 symbolizes the church of God in her triumph after having passed through her anguish, pain, and longing of six centuries of captivity. In our next we will trace the other predictions of the prophecy.
XXV. The Waiting Church
ONE of the most wonderful chapters of the Word of God is Revelation 12. In it are presented, in concrete objects, the great principles of right and wrong, of good and evil, of sin and righteousness. These principles are personified. In graphic, forcible figures is portrayed the warfare between the principles that Right IS might, and that Might makes Right. For the first stands the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ; for the second stands Lucifer, the arch-enemy of Christ, and the destroyer of souls.
From the time that sin first entered the universe of God there has been incessant, unrelenting, uncompromising war between the two, with victory often apparently resting with Might regardless of Right. Right has seemed to be silent or dead, and Might has ridden with ruthless sway over the world, crushing hope and burying virtue and piety under the wrecks of lust and greed. God has permitted it. He permits it still. His character is challenged. He can not use the weapons or the arts nor act by the motives of the devil. He will not depart from the unswerving principle of right, assured that in the end Might without Right will prove its own destruction, while Right will in the end be demonstrated to be everlasting and beneficent Might.
Revelation 12 is a wonderful key which opens to us a great storehouse of prophetic knowledge. The prophecy of which it is a part is like a watch-tower on a mountain top; for it comprehends in its outlook the great field of prophecy. It sweeps backward to that time when man was not, and forward to that eternity when sin shall be no more. It is like a giant door, which, opened, reveals to us God's temple of historic knowledge for His children, marshaling in panoramic array the various acts of the great controversy of the ages, the prizes sought and lost and won, the actors in the great drama, and the glorious outcome. These things will be developed as we pursue our studies. We will find the symbolism bold and startling; but by comparing scripture with scripture, we shall find clear and consistent interpretation. With these preliminary thoughts let us proceed to —
1. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
2. And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
Arrayed With the Sun
3. ARRAYED WITH THE SUN.—Previous to our Lord's first coming, the light of truth shone more dimly, represented by the light of the moon. The shadows were deeper and darker. Truth was revealed in symbolic sacrifices, offerings, and ceremonies, which in themselves had no virtue, but whose virtue lay in the One typified, Jesus Christ, even as the moon shines by light which it receives from the sun. The increased spiritual light that came at Christ's first coming, as compared with the dimmer light before existing, is clearly set forth in the scriptures following. Said Zacharias of John the Baptist:
A Woman
2. A WOMAN. A pure woman in prophecy represents the true church, or the body of God's people. Says the prophet, "I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman." Jer. 6:2. "I have espoused you to one husband," says an apostle to a church, "that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." 2 Cor. 11:2. The woman seen in heaven, upheld by the power of God, is therefore the symbol of the people or church, the ekklesia, called-out ones of God.
Note and Comment
By Editor
1. A GREAT SIGN.—The word "sign" in the original means that which signifies, a mark or symbol. So God "sign-i-fied" the Revelation, by these visions to the church, chapter 1:1. These signs can not therefore mean the objects used to symbolize, but must signify something else. For instance, the woman does not represent a literal woman, nor the dragon a literal sea or land reptile. IN HEAVEN, as tho appearing in the sky, placed high in its revealing, where all could see it, above mere earthly things in nature and importance. It is in the spiritual realms that the things symbolized occur; and they can be truly seen only in the light of God's Word by the eye of faith. So Paul, to show the spiritual, places both the church and her foes in "heavenly places." See Eph. 2:6; 6:12, margin.
An Earthquake Chorus
By Llewellyn A. Morrison
By Llewellyn A. Morrison, in the "Christian Observer," sent us by the author
O'er the Macedonian city
Of King Philip and its fountains
Droopeth Night's cryptescant curtain,
Gemmed with opalescent stars;
Silence reigneth, robed in shadow,
Over meadow-lands and mountains,
Save where faint from far Olympus
Tho a thunderbolt unbars.
It is midnight. In a dungeon,
Fettered fast in stocks, are lying,
Beaten, wounded, bound, and bleeding,
Prostrate on the floor of stone,
Two brave henchmen of Jehovah,
Who with fortitude undying
Sing His praises
Who thus nameth them His own.
Chorus
As they sing, the heavens, ringing
With the glory of the singing,
Rock the earth in holy rhythm
And the rime of praise prolong;
Saints and seraphs join the chorus
Far-resounding and victorious,
While the Earthquake Angels
Punctuate the song.
Where the earthly halleljahs
Join the heavenly, in their sweetness,
Lo! the finite rising, blendeth
In the infinite above,
Voicing victory everlasting
By the truth's supreme completeness
And the majesty and purpose
Of divine, unchanging love.
Every word of hope hath in it
A fulfilment of His pleasure;
Each deserving deed is dufty done
To magnify His name;
Every song of faith, ascending,
Hath the music and the measure
Of His coming
With divinity aflame.
All the universal forces,
In ecstatic touch attending,
Answer to the intonations
Of the vibrant tones of one;
Sunlight, music, zephyrs, ether,
All in witcheries unending,
Bear the sonorous diapasons
That a noble deed is done.
Onward through the ages ever,
Still the triumph-song is pealing;
Every heart in sentient rhythm
Hears the choral in the Word,
Breaks anew the midnight message,
Fraught with harmony and healing,
By the power
And divineness of the Lord.
The Selfish Motive
The doctrine which, from the very first origin of religious dissensions, has been held by all bigots of all sects, when condensed into a few words, and stripped of rhetorical disguise, is simply this: I am in the right, you are in the wrong. When you are the stronger, you ought to tolerate me; for it is your duty to tolerate truth. But when I am stronger, I shall persecute you; for it is my duty to persecute error.—Macaulay.
Duty Over the Marvelous
“THERE are people who will go miles for the marvelous who will not go one step for duty.”
Prophetic Simile
all. Some minds may be shocked at the simile that the prophet uses, but it will
Text Fragment
the
the
were
with
all
The Holy Scriptures
1. By what terms does Jesus designate the Old Testament Scriptures?
The Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms. Luke 24: 44. See also verse 27.
2. How does Paul, writing to the young Jew Timothy, refer to them?
From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 2 Tim. 3: 15.
NOTE.—The Holy Scriptures, or Holy Writings, of the Jews consisted of the Old Testament books that we have to-day. They divided them into the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa (Holy Writings), sometimes called the Psalms, because the Psalms is the first book in the last division. The Law includes the first five books of the Bible; the Prophets,—Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Hosea to Malachi inclusive; the Holy Writings,—Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles. These, as the above scriptures and many others clearly show, were approved and endorsed by our Lord and His apostles.
3. What promise did Jesus give the disciples as to their teaching?
The Holy Spirit . . . shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you. John 14: 26; 16: 13-15.
4. What does Paul say of the apostolic writings?
Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the SPIRIT TEACHETH. 1 Cor. 2: 13. See Eph. 3: 5, where prophets and apostles are classed together.
5. How does the apostle Peter class the writings of Paul?
Even as our beloved brother Paul . . . wrote unto you; as also in ALL HIS EPISTLES, speaking in them of these things; wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unsteadfast wrest, as they do also THE OTHER SCRIPTURES, unto their own destruction. 2 Peter 3: 15, 16.
NOTE.—In this text the apostle Peter classes the writings of the apostle Paul among the "other Scriptures," the Old Testament Scriptures. And the words of the apostle Paul place the New Testament writings with the Holy Scriptures.
6. What is said of the inspiration of the Scriptures?
All Scripture is given by INSPIRATION OF GOD, and is profitable. 2 Tim. 3: 16.
NOTE.—A more literal rendering would be, "All Scripture is God-breathed." Whether we take "all Scripture" as in the Common Version, or "every Scripture inspired of God," as in the Revisions, we are at no loss, if we regard the context, as to the meaning of the term. The apostle refers to the Holy Scriptures which Timothy the Jew had known from a child, the Old Testament Scriptures. See the previous verse. Note also that it is not the writers which are inspired, or God-breathed, but the Scriptures, the writings.
7. What does another say as to how these Scriptures came to us?
Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 1: 21.
Concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you; searching what time or what manner of time THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST WHICH WAS IN THEM did point unto, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them. 1 Peter 1: 10, 11.
NOTE.—This last scripture shows clearly that it was the Spirit of Christ as well as the Father which inspired the Word. Therefore He is called the Word, the One through whom the Father gave all things. John 1: 1-3; 1 Cor. 8: 6. The whole Bible is therefore "the Word of Christ" which ought to "dwell richly" in the souls of His children. See also 2 Sam. 23:2; Acts 1:16; Heb. 3:7; John 10:35; Matt. 8:17; Isa. 1:10, etc., etc.
NOTE.—It is everywhere the Word of Jehovah, the Word of the Lord, the Holy Spirit. The man is God's willing instrument. God is the Master. While the words are the words of Moses, of David, of Jeremiah, of Ezekiel, of Hosea, of Paul, of James, of Peter, they are also the words of God. The words, the style, bear the impress of the character of the man through whom God spoke; nevertheless they are the words of God. It is as tho a musician, wishing to affect a great mass of people, should play on various instruments, such as piano, organ, harp, guitar, cornet, drum, fife, bagpipe, etc. Some souls would be affected by the harsher instrument who would not be touched at all by the softer, more perfect one. The music would bear the stamp of the instrument, but it would also reveal that a master was producing the best music of which the various instruments were capable. So God has used learned and ignorant men, great men and small men. The work has different standards of excellence; but it is always the best which can be produced from the men God has used. By using men of all kinds of temperaments and all walks of life, He reaches men of all classes.
8. What is said of the sufficiency of the Scriptures?
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is PROFITABLE for DOCTRINE, for REPROOF, for CORRECTION, for instruction in RIGHTEOUSNESS: that the MAN OF GOD may be PERFECT, THOROLY FURNISHED unto all good works. 2 Tim. 3: 16, 17.
9. What is said of its might?
For the WORD OF GOD IS QUICK, AND POWERFUL, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Heb. 4: 12.
Roosevelt on the Bible
THE humble home, the farmhouse, the miner's cabin, to-day, as in the past, owe their virtue and worth largely to the inherited and acquired faith in Biblical teaching. It has been said of Lincoln that he was essentially "a man of one book—the Bible;" and the dignity, reserve, noble simplicity, and elevation of his style are directly traceable to the Bible. No English classic could have been written as it was without the Bible since the King James Version, and no classic can be understood without a knowledge of that version.
Parents do not always know how to render the Bible attractive to school children. Ruskin was always thankful to his parents for the compulsory study of the Bible they had imposed on him, and he attributed the matchless eloquence and grandeur of his style to the Bible. In many cases compulsion is useless or worse, but there are better means than compulsion. Readings, frequent recurrence to favorite passages, quotations from admired men and women—exemplars to youth—showing what moral, spiritual, and literary strength and wealth they derived from the Bible, constant allusions and subtle intimations implying that true culture or education is based on the Bible, will do what stern compulsion fails to do. This is a good time to resolve to make "the best seller" the most cherished treasure of the younger generation. Colleges, schools, churches, and homes should coöperate in this celebration of the tercentenary.
God's Holy Law
By T. Godfrey
I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart. Ps. 40: 8.
THE Ten Commandments are the law of God expressed in precept. They are the expressed will of God. They reveal our relation and duty to our Creator and to our fellow men. They are the organic principles in the throne of the universal empire. Therefore they are the eternal and unchangeable rule of His moral government.
The law of God is the rule by which the temple of God, the altar, and them that worship therein, are measured (Rev. 11: 1). The law of God is the standard of all righteousness (Ps. 119: 172) and truth (Ps. 119: 142), the rule by which character is measured; therefore the Ten Commandments are the rule of judgment for all men (Eccl. 12: 13, 14); and none who fall short of this standard can enter into the eternal kingdom of Christ.
The life of Christ while on earth in the flesh, was the law of God exemplified. Said Jesus, "For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me." John 6: 38.
The law of God is an inherent, fixed principle in God, eternal, and unchangeable in its nature. The law engraved in stone, or written in ink upon parchment, will not prove effectual to the believer. But the law must be written in the heart of man by the "Spirit of the living God." 2 Cor. 3: 3. This is the Spirit of the new covenant, and is in harmony with original conditions. Therefore Christ came not to destroy the law (Matt. 5: 17), but to magnify it, and make it honorable (Isa. 42: 21).
Christ came to live out its principles in human flesh, and through His death reconcile fallen man to God and His law. The law can not justify sinful man; but after he has been justified by faith in Christ Jesus, the law witnesses to his righteousness. Says the psalmist, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple."
T. GODFREY.
Western, Washington.
A Family Without Prayer
By Jay
A FAMILY without prayer is like a house without a roof; it has no protection.—Jay.
