Earlier text: PURPOSE OF HISTORYTranslation and Death.
By W. N. G.
It is quite common in these days to refer to people who have died as having been “translated.” It may well be said of those who make such references that they “do err, not knowing the Scriptures.” On June 4 of this year there came to the Methodist mission rooms in New York, this brief message from India: “Bishop Parker ‘translated.’” The reason for sending the telegram was that Bishop Parker had died. In the Scriptures we read of two men who were translated, only two. But we have accounts of a great many who died. Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, and Jared all “died.” Then came Enoch, all of whose days were three hundred sixty and five years. When he passed off the scene of this life, the record says, “He was not, for God ‘took him.’” From Heb. 11:5 we learn that “Enoch was translated ‘that he should not see death;’ that he ‘was not found, because God ‘had translated him.’” Following Enoch, the record in Genesis 5 goes on with Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah, all of whom are said to have died. Now if all these faithful patriarchs were “translated” when they “died,” why does the inspired Word make such a distinction between their history and that of Enoch? From Enoch on down the line, we read of a number of good men who lived and served God, and, without exception, they died, until we come to Elijah. Of him it is said that he “went up by a whirlwind ‘into heaven.’” Further on in the account (2 Kings 2) we learn that he, too, was not found. Just after his ascension, a number of the students in the school of the prophets met Elisha on his return from the scene, and suggested that they go and hunt for Elijah. They said, “Lest peradventure the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up, ‘and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley.’” Elisha at first refused the permission, but they insisted so strongly that he at last told them to go. So fifty men spent three days searching for the translated prophet, “but found him not.” Now let us return to the instance of Bishop Parker. Rev. N. L. Rockey, who sent the message, “Bishop Parker translated,” writes to the Northwestern Christian Advocate: “The writer was with him frequently in those last hours, and has just returned from the beautiful5 cemetery where they have laid him to rest in a quiet nook of the Himalaya Mountains, near Naini Tal.” So Bishop Parker, after being translated according to modern theology, unlike those whom God translated in His way, was “found,” and buried just as were those of whom the Bible says that they died. Another common-place feature of this case of traditionary translation is also shown in the account from which we quote. Mr. Rockey adds: “Bishop Warne, assisted by other missionaries and by native ministers, also by Bishop Clifford of the Church of England, read the burial service, and in the hope of the general resurrection, he was ‘laid to rest.’” The story of laying away a translated man to rest in a cemetery until the general resurrection no doubt would have been interesting to the Athenians, who “spent their time in nothing else, but either to ‘tell or to hear some new thing.’” Acts 17:21. The next we hear of Elijah after his translation was his appearance on the mount of transfiguration. But some will ask, Was not Moses there too, of whom it is said that he died?—Yes, Moses was there too, but Moses was not translated. He died, and the Lord “buried him in a valley in the land of Moab.” The exact spot of his sepulcher never was known to man, but it is known that he died and was buried. Yet his body was on the mount of transfiguration with that of Elijah. How could it have been there and alive? Certainly not by a translation, for it had been dead. Certainly not by an inherent immortality, for it had died. There is but one other way in which the body of Moses, who had died in Moab, could be alive, and that is by a resurrection. Moses had been resurrected. We read in Jude 9 that Michael the archangel (Christ) contended with the devil and “disputed about the body of Moses.” There could be but one point of dispute between Christ and Satan over a dead body, namely, the bringing of it to life. Dead people are all within the gates of the enemy, and Satan would naturally dispute the release of a child of God from his prison-house; and in a personal conflict between Christ and Satan, Christ would surely win. Moses and Elijah stood on the mount with the transfigured Saviour, representing the two classes that will compose the kingdom of heaven,—the righteous dead, who will be resurrected at the coming of the Lord, and the righteous living, who will be “changed,” or translated, at that time. See 1 Thess. 4:13–18. This transfiguration scene (Matthew 17) was in fulfilment of the promise of Christ made to His disciples six days before, when He said, “There be some ‘standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom.’” Ch. 16:28. W. N. G. “GOD HATH MADE ME TO LAUGH.”
By Cyrus Simmons
GOD wants all who believe on Him to be happy. “But let all ‘those that put their trust in Thee rejoice; let them ever shout ‘for joy, because Thou defendest them; let them also that ‘love Thy name be joyful in Thee.” Ps. 5:11. Joy is the fruit of the Spirit. Gal. 5:22. “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out ‘of the wells of salvation.” Isa. 12:3. Christ wants to dwell in His children. 2 Cor. 13:5. “Know ye ‘not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God ‘dwelleth in you?” 1 Cor. 3:16. This close relationship between God and man has hitherto been a mystery, “but now is made manifest ‘to His saints.” Col. 1:26. The fact that Christ is in you, “the ‘hope of glory’” (Col. 1:27) makes the heart rejoice in the salvation of God. Ps. 13:5. The heart rejoices to know that God hears and answers the suppliant’s prayers. “If ye abide in Me, and My words ‘abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto ‘you.” John 15:7. “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name; ‘ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” John 16:24. It is joy to the believer that his sins are forgiven and that God will save him from his sins. “Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He ‘shall save His people from their sins.” Matt. 1:21. When Paul and Silas were miraculously delivered from the Philippian jail by the great earthquake that suddenly shook its foundation, we are told that the jailer, after hearing the Gospel, “rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.” Acts 16:29–34. The eunuch, who heard Philip and was baptized by him, “went on his ‘way rejoicing.” Acts 8:35–39. The psalmist says, “Let the heart ‘of them rejoice that seek the Lord.” Ps. 105:3. When the three angels visited Abraham in the Plain of Mamre and told him that his wife should have a son, Sarah, being then well stricken in age, “laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old ‘shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? And the Lord said ‘unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a ‘surety bear a child, which am old? Is anything too hard for the ‘Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to ‘the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Then Sarah denied, ‘saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And He said, Nay; but ‘thou didst laugh.” Gen. 18:1–15. “And the Lord visited Sarah ‘as He had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoken. ‘For Sarah conceived, and bear Abraham a son in his old age, at the ‘set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the ‘name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bear to him, ‘Isaac. . . . And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.” Gen. 21:1–3, 6. The word “Isaac” means “laughter.” He was born by the word of God. All who believe, or hear, are redeemed or recreated or born from above by the self-same word. All are Isaacs in that they laugh and rejoice in the salvation of God. CYRUS SIMMONS. THE SHEPHERD AND HIS SHEEP.
By W. C. Mathewson
A sheep, a lamb, so gentle, mild, and useful, is an illustration befitting the character of Christ; but how can it be said to illustrate the character of men, who are “by nature the children of wrath”? Eph. 2:3. The natural man is a stray sheep, fierce and wild. “All we like ‘sheep have gone astray.” Isa. 53:6. At the close of six thousand years of wandering, God still recognizes His sheep. O, joyful truth! There is hope. Under a good shepherd’s care we may be returned to the heavenly fold. Is there such a shepherd? Listen: “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Ps. 23:1. “I am the good Shepherd.” John 10:14. “He shall ‘feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His ‘arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that ‘are with young.” Isa. 40:11. Unlike earthly shepherds, Christ appreciates the needs of His flock. He is one with them. I “know My sheep.” John 10:14. He who was made in all respects like His sheep, compassed with their infirmity, can have compassion on “them that are out of the way,” and safely lead them back. Heb. 2:17; 5:2. Lost sheep we are, in a vast wilderness, far from the heavenly fold. The good Shepherd having come, is calling His sheep. He asks, “What doest thou here? Why perish with hunger? ‘Ho, every ‘one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.’ Come unto Me, and I will ‘feed thee in green pastures, and lead thee beside the still waters.’” We “know His voice.” Hungering for the “living bread,” thirsting for the “living water,” and longing for the “rest that ‘remaineth to the people of God,”— “O Lamb of God, I come, I come.” Having laid “aside every weight, and the sin which doth so ‘easily beset us, looking unto Jesus,” our Shepherd, we begin our march to the heavenly fold. Our Shepherd does not walk behind to drive us rapidly over the rough surface of the wilderness. O, no; He is a “good Shepherd;” He “goeth before,” to “gently lead.” Are there not wolves in this wilderness?—Yes; but tho we “walk ‘through the valley of the shadow of death,” we “will fear no evil,” believing our Shepherd’s promise, “They shall never perish, neither ‘shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” Can we find the way? Altho we do not always see the guiding Shepherd, His footprints are plainly visible; and we “follow in His ‘steps.” “He shall guide thee.” Now, in returning to the fold, “we walk in the light, as He is in ‘the light,’ having ‘fellowship one with another, and the blood of ‘Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.’” Thus we get rid of our fierce, human nature, and receive His gentle “divine nature.” Consequently, when we shall have arrived home at last, we shall be a heavenly flock, like the Lamb of God,—gentle, obedient, and useful to the Shepherd, who, looking upon us, joyfully recognizes us as His original sheep, bestows upon us the original kingship, and being perfectly “satisfied,” does for us “exceeding abundantly above all that we ‘ask or think.” Faith in a Saviour
By Horace Bushnell
FAITH is the act of trust by which one being, a sinner, commits himself to another being, a Saviour.—Horace Bushnell. THERE are perplexing questions in the world. Looking upon its seething, restless, moving panorama with only human vision, no wonder that men exclaim, as did the great Italian, ex-prime minister Crispi, “We are marching toward the unknown. Who knows what to-morrow has in store for us?” Or as the late Bishop Newman confessed: “Statesmen are at their wits’ end. Philosophers speculate in vain.” Or as Archbishop Ireland: “Perils hitherto unknown are menacing the life of the social organism.” Or as the Springfield Republican: “We see the boiling rapids of a torrent plunging toward what abyss no one knows.” In Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas; in China, India, South Africa; in Russia’s movements, in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Britain; in the strife between labor and capital centralizing in America; in this great nation’s place and influence in the world; in the religio-political, the religio-social, the religio-scientific questions continually coming to the surface of the great boiling, bubbling sea of humanity, in the growing intemperance, in the great famines,—in all these and more there are perplexities, “distress of nations with perplexity.” Luke 21:25. What will be the outcome? earnest, thoughtful men of all beliefs and no belief are asking. Will faith be submerged in doubt? Will hope in the future life be destroyed? Will the belief in the Bible as the Word of God perish from among men? Will the mad race for wealth ruin the world, as it bids fair to do? Will the oppression of the poor and needy forever continue? Will the earth-hunger of the nations ever be allayed? How inextricably involved in confusion it all seems to the human eye! And yet God rules in the kingdom of men. God still controls the world. Like the restless sea it may toss its waves of rebellion and wrath; but beyond its appointed bounds it can not go. In their little span of life, their brief rule for an hour, kings and rulers may exalt themselves, yet their best-laid plans of increased power and might are thwarted by an unseen hand. This is the lesson of the first chapter of Ezekiel’s prophecy. The vision that God gave the priest by the River Chebar was not a vision of the heavenly throne, only so far as it showed God’s connection with things earthly. The four living creatures, the awful machines full of wheels within wheels, full of eyes before and behind, represented God’s people and work among the nations of earth. These creatures symbolized by combinations of man, eagle, lion, and ox, were indicative, not alone of God’s work, but that of the nations. The partial view of God’s throne that the prophet saw was above the “terrible crystal” of the firmament or expansion; the living creatures were below “upon the earth.” It is more than a co-incidence that the four standards under which Israel pitched were, according to Jewish tradition, the four creatures above named. On the standard of Judah on the east was a Lion; Dan, on the north, an Eagle, Ephraim, on the west, an Ox; and Reuben, on the south, a Man. It is more than a co-incidence that we find these symbols in Assyria and Babylonia. The winged man-headed lion, the winged man-headed ox, the winged eagle-headed human, were all common. Babylon is likened by Jeremiah to a lion, by Ezekiel to an eagle, and by Daniel to a lion with eagle’s wings, while, with the great broad-winged symbols in mind, Isaiah says of Assyria, “The stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.” And Babylon is the mother type of all the nations. To the prophet’s human vision all seemed confusion; wheels within wheels, a multitude of eyes gazing from the wonderful creature, four times four faces looking to the four points of the compass! He sees them moving with marvelous swiftness, now this way, now that, with the wonderful bright light like flaming torches kindling among them. But the secret of their moving was revealed. Under the wings of the creatures were the hands that were directing. Infusing them with life and guiding their movements was the Spirit of life. God was guiding. Among His own people, among the nations of men, God’s Spirit was the ultimate power, the hand of the Son of man was the directing agency. Did the king of Babylon come to the parting of the ways, and work divination to decide his course?—It was God who guided. Eze. 21:19–23. Did Nebuchadrezzar bring under his control all the kingdoms of earth, far and near?—It was God who gave them to the proud monarch, tho it was long before Nebuchadrezzar acknowledged it. Jer. 27:1–8; Dan. 4:34–37. Did Cyrus the Great conquer Babylon and restore Jerusalem to the people of God?—It was God who girded him with strength, tho Cyrus knew Him not. Isa. 45:1–5. And all this God did, foretelling it all before it came, that men might “know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me. I am Jehovah, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace and create evil; I am Jehovah, that doeth all these things.” Verses 6, 7. The earth has broken truce with God. Man, tho living by God’s life, has yielded to God’s enemy, and is in rebellion. He rages in his wrath: he schemes, and plans, and proposes. But God makes the wrath of man to praise Him, and the residue He restrains. Ps. 76:10. While God will force none to accept the better way, because He will give to all their choice, the harvest of their final and all-desirable sowing; while God will allow evil to reveal its own intrinsic badness, yet will He control all, guide all, to the ultimate good of all who trust in Him, to the everlasting glory of His name. And He does it all in righteousness, as the prophet declares in his continuance: “Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, that they may bring forth salvation, and let her cause righteousness to spring up together; I Jehovah have created it.” Isa. 45:8. O soul, acknowledge God. See in the light of the revealed vision the hand of God guiding and controlling despite the machinations of demons and evil men. Yield to Him, and share in the ultimate triumph over all sin, and confusion, and every evil work. “Jehovah is King forever and ever.” “BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS.”
By W. N. G.
The title of the Sunday-school lesson in this paper is “Isaac the Peacemaker.” The Lord Jesus Christ declared in His most noted discourse, “Blessed are the peacemakers; for they ‘shall be called the children of God.’” This was not by any means a new doctrine, altho it may have been new to most of those who heard it at that time. The moment the breach occurred in the friendly relations of God and man in the Garden of Eden, the Son of God was on hand as a peacemaker. Then and there the olive branch was held out to the fallen pair, beseeching them to be reconciled to God. When there was strife between the herdmen of Abraham and Lot, which even threatened the friendship of the masters also, Abraham immediately suggested a way of peace. And as soon as his plan was put into operation, the Lord appeared to him and blessed him. Abraham had secured peace at the sacrifice of personal prerogative in the choice of land, and the Lord now made him heir of all the land, and to the land grant was added the promise of an innumerable posterity to occupy it. Gen. 13:14–18. After the death of Abraham, Isaac inherited his property and promises. “And there was a famine ‘in the land, beside the first famine that was in the ‘days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech ‘king of the Philistines unto Gerar.” Ch. 26:1. The Lord told him not to go to Egypt, as his father had in time of famine, but to sojourn in that land. So “Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the ‘same year an hundredfold.” He prospered until he “became very great,” and “the Philistines ‘envied him.” Then there was trouble of course. Abraham had once “sojourned in Gerar,” and had an experience somewhat similar to that which had now befallen Isaac. But Abraham made a covenant with Abimelech, which was respected as long as Abraham lived. Then, after his death, the Philistines stopped the wells that Abraham had dug, and “filled them with earth.” But while the Philistines were jealous of Isaac’s prosperity, the king was afraid of his growing power and influence, and requested him to leave. For the sake of peace Isaac went away, but camped in the valley of Gerar, in the part his father had occupied. The acknowledgment on the part of the king, “Thou art much mightier than we,” would have caused any ambitious worldly man to maintain his position, and say, You can go yourself, I prefer to stay here. But Isaac was a type of Christ, a believer in God’s promises, and therefore he was a peacemaker, at any material cost to himself. So he meekly withdrew and digged again the wells of his father, which the Philistines had stopped. In this connection Isaac was again favored with “good fortune,” as men would say. His servants “digged in the valley, and found there a well of ‘springing water.’” Only a contemplation of the labor necessary to draw water for large flocks and herds will enable one to appreciate the value of this flowing well. This discovery added to the envy of the Philistines, and they boldly claimed the water right as their own. Altho Isaac had a powerful company, he had yielded to the demand of the Philistines once, and this evidently emboldened them. So “the herdmen of Gerar did strive with ‘Isaac’s herdmen,’” for the water. Like most of this world’s gain, the new water supply caused contention, and Isaac named the well Esek, or strife, and gave way to his enemies. Then he digged another well, and they strove for that also. Isaac named this well Sitnah, or hatred, and removed from that region. In all this he manifested the disposition of Christ, and exemplified the injunction, “Say not thou, I will recompense evil; ‘but wait on the Lord, and He shall save thee.’” Prov. 20:22. “I say unto you, That ye resist not evil; ‘but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, ‘turn to him the other also.’” Matt. 5:39. This time Isaac went farther away from his persecutors, and stopped at Beer-sheba. He digged another well, and “for that they strove not.” Isaac named this well Rehoboth, or room, saying, “For ‘now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall ‘be fruitful in the land.’” This was a different policy from that which the “enterprising” men of to-day pursue. They seem to have the idea that the way to prosperity lies in crowding upon others. The large fortunes of to-day are mostly made at the expense and often the ruin of others. But this prototype of Christ left the valuable things for which the selfish men of the world strove, and sought room where he could have prosperity in peace. Had men in general the peaceful disposition of Isaac, there would be no great crowded cities, seething hotbeds of iniquity, where some strive for fortune and others for the barest existence by preying upon one another. And immediately after Isaac made this move, the Lord appeared to him, and said, “I am the ‘God of Abraham thy father; fear not, for I am ‘with thee, and will bless thee.’” Thus followed quickly the blessing upon the peacemaker. “And ‘he builded an altar there, and called upon the name ‘of the Lord, and pitched his tent there; and there ‘Isaac’s servants digged a well.’” Like Abraham his father, he kept the altar fires burning, and trusted in the promises of God. But while the stockmen of the Philistines no doubt thought that Isaac was afraid of them, and that they had won a great victory in ridding themselves of his presence, it was not so with their king. He still feared Isaac, as he had feared Abraham. While outward appearances indicated that Isaac was defeated, Abimelech was in dread of some calamity because of the treatment Isaac had received. This spirit of yielding by one whose power had been acknowledged by the king was a mystery to the heathen mind, and he feared that there would be a subsequent revenge. While Isaac trusted in the Lord, his enemies were kept in dread of him. The Spirit of God had wrought with Abimelech, and his contact with Abraham and with Isaac were golden opportunities to him and to his people. There were some good traits in the man, and God had used him as a means of administering stern rebukes to both Abraham and Isaac. Genesis 20, and 26:7–11. These facts would have given Abimelech a feeling of superiority, had not the Spirit of7 the Lord impressed a different sentiment. So the king, accompanied by a confidential friend and the chief captain of his army, went to see Isaac, and Isaac asked him, “Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ‘ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?” And now comes the result of true missionary conduct in dealing with the world. “And they said, ‘We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee.’” But that the king did not fully understand the nature of Isaac’s religion is shown in the request for a covenant with him that he would do the king’s people no hurt. The diplomacy of Abimelech is manifest in his asking for such a covenant while protesting that Isaac had received “nothing but ‘good’ at the hands of his people, and that they had sent him away in peace. But with it all was the acknowledgment that Isaac was “blessed of the ‘Lord.” Of course Isaac would make the covenant of peace—a covenant to do them no hurt—for such a covenant he had already made in spirit with all men. The true Christian rule is, “Follow peace with all ‘men,” for “God hath called us to peace.” “And ‘the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them ‘that make peace.” W. N. G. What Does Restoration of All Things Include?
ARE MR. DOWIE'S CLAIMS TRUE?—NO. 4.
What Does Restoration of All Things Include?
In Mr. Dowie's paper, Leaves of Healing, of June 8, appeared the following:— For more than two years we have taken the responsibility before the church and the world of being the Messenger of the Covenant. . . . The Scriptural and logical issue of our action was the declaration as Elijah the Restorer, which we made in the Chicago auditorium before about seven thousand persons last Lord's day afternoon. The Messenger of the Covenant, Jesus tells us, was John the Baptist. John the Baptist, Jesus said, was Elijah. . . . Malachi and Jesus say that the Messenger of the Covenant and Elijah must come again. . . . If we are the Messenger of the Covenant, we must also be Elijah the Restorer. . . . God does not rebuke us now in saying that we are Elijah the Restorer. Both offices center in one man. . . . The preparation of God's people for Christ's coming can only be made through Elijah, since God has so decreed it, and through no other person. The “restoration of all things” was to be accompanied by the prophet, of whom God spake to Moses in Deut. 18:15–22. . . . The Messenger of the Covenant, and Elijah the Restorer, and that Prophet of whom Moses spake, are all one and the same person. The declaration that we are that person is either . . . a great blasphemy, or a tremendous fact of the utmost importance to the whole world. Which is it? The above raises the following questions:— - Who is the Elijah that is to come? and how is he to come?
- Who is the Messenger of the Covenant?
- Who is that Prophet like unto Moses?
- What does restoration of all things include?
- What are the Biblical credentials?
Three of these have been answered in previous issues. It has been shown from the Word of God that Elijah typified in part John the Baptist, and that both Elijah and John the Baptist, with their adversaries and times, are archetypes of God's people, in character, not person, with their adversaries in the last days; and that the Messenger of the Covenant and that “Prophet like unto Moses” were both met in Jesus Christ, and Him only. IV. What Does Restoration of All Things Include?
Peter tells us that the heavens must receive Jesus “until the times of restitution [or ‘restoration,’ R.V.] of all things which God hath spoken [‘whereof God spake,’ R.V.] by the mouth of His holy prophets since the world began.” Acts 3:21. This restoration is not, therefore, what we wish restored, or what men fancy will be restored, but what God has declared by His prophets should be restored. Another point to keep clear in mind: The restoration to be wrought by Elijah is by our Saviour applied to John the Baptist. Matt. 17:11–13. But this embraced simply the preaching of the clear, previously down-trodden truth, and present truth of the Gospel for that time. “He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost,” said the angel; “and many of the children of Israel shall he turn unto the Lord their God. And he shall go before His [Christ's] face in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for Him.” Luke 1:15–17. This character of John's work was predicted in Isa. 40:3–9, and recorded in Matthew 3 and Luke 3. It was the preaching of repentance, turning to God's law, faith in God's coming One, and the utter repudiation of trust in man. God was exalted and humanity brought low, and the truth of God appeared once more as a noble highway of holiness, where men could walk in the light of God and be saved. But the restoration in Acts 3:21 embraces all that God's prophets, since the entrance of sin, predicted, in the restoration of which man at his best could have but a limited part. The great Restorer here is Jesus Christ. The heavens were not to receive Him until the restoration of all things spoken of by the prophets, but “until the times of restoration of all things.” Those times begin with God's last great reform message, typified by the work of both Elijah and John, and completed by the coming of Jesus Christ in person, by the judgment, and a restored earth. Of this restoration Mr. Dowie says:— The “restoration of all things” begins by obedience to the law of marriage which God first decreed when man and woman were pure in Eden. Then in the restoration of obedience to the Ten Commandments which God gave to Moses in Mount Sinai, and which He reaffirmed . . . by Jesus Christ when He ministered on earth in the flesh. These fundamental things must all be restored. But all this work, so far as man can do it, is embraced in the preaching of the everlasting Gospel, and its accompanying proclamations, protests, and warnings, given in God's last great threefold message of reform, as recorded in Rev. 14:6–12, as follows:— “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
“And there followed [went with him] another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
“And the third angel followed [went with] them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation. . . .
“Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” The positive truth of God's great restoration message is all embraced in the message in charge of the first messenger. It is (1) the preaching of the everlasting Gospel in its purity, as “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom. 1:16, 17); (2) the giving up of all fear of man, his customs, his traditions, his laws, his “science falsely so-called,” his arbitrary rule, and listening with reverent, devoted awe to what the great God of the universe shall say, realizing that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” and “to depart from evil is understanding;” (3) the turning from all worship at the human shrines of tradition, superstition, wealth, worldly honor, and worldly science, and worshiping, not the god of man-made law, but “Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” To fear God in view of the judgment, at which His holy law shall be the rule (Eccl. 12:13, 14; Rom. 2:12; James 2:8–12), to worship the great Creator, is to listen to God's voice, is to obey His holy law. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve,” are the words of Jesus Christ. Matt. 4:10. But God's voice was uttered in the Ten Commandments (Deut. 5:22), magnified and confirmed by our blessed Lord (Matt. 5:17–20; Luke 16:17). This is further shown by the class developed by the giving of this threefold message to the world: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Believing the Gospel has cleansed from sin and made them in Christ's grace holy ones; has restored in them the faith of Jesus, and His life in them keeps, as it did in Judea of old, the commandments of God,—not in dry, dead form, but in warm, living, beneficent, righteous doing of the will of God from the heart. Now, the keeping of the commandments of God does not mean keeping a part of the commandments of God and a part of the commandments of men. He does not keep God's commandments who is an adulterer, or who profanes God's name, or who steals, or who worships idols. Neither does he who profanes God's Sabbath. Many men who rob the poor and oppress the hireling are trying—men always have been trying—to substitute large giving to public benefactions and enterprises for the keeping of the eighth commandment; but while such things may pass current among men, they will not stand the test of God's rule of judgment, which declares, “Thou shalt not steal.” Many men who are profaning God's holy day are trying—men always have been trying—to substitute for their transgression a day of tradition, concerning which God has given no commandment. Many have transgressed ignorantly, and have thought themselves obeying God's law in observing the substitute; but now God's message of restoration calls men away from flesh to what God says. “The times of this ignorance God winked at; but now He commandeth men everywhere to repent.” He who can set aside one part of God's law can do it all. And he who assumes to do so puts himself in the place of God, and is antichrist. The messenger who announces the fall of Babylon simply tells all people that the great religio-worldly organizations, in rejecting the healing message of the Gospel, retain their confusion and have fallen. And the third angel's message declares that this world has come to that time of restoration and enlightenment when he who rejects the worship and service of God for the worship of church-and-world union, designated the beast, must bear the fearful consequences that follow utter separation from God. in this work of restoration is to receive the message and to bear it to others in life and word. He can do no more. God gives to His servants through Christ authority to preach His Gospel, power over sin, but no more. They may not compel, coerce, or anathematize; they may proclaim the truth of the Gospel, and beseech or entreat men to be reconciled to God. The doctrine of force is foreign to the Gospel of Christ. is to make effectual the work of His servants by the mighty power of His Spirit; to thwart or permit the evil purposes of men till this work of Gospel-proclaiming is over. And then, when men reject His last saving message, when Infinite Love can no longer reach them, His Spirit will be withdrawn, the plagues, the fruit of unrestrained sin, will follow; Jesus Christ will come, and His brightness will consume sin and all allied therewith. Out of the work of the millennial judgment will come the final destruction of sin and sinners, the renewal of the earth to more than its primeval beauty, the salvation of the elect characters of God of all ages, the restoration of all things foretold by the prophets. And in it all, Christ Jesus is the Restorer. V. What Are the Divine Credentials?
What evidence should Mr. Dowie, or any one else, produce that he is bearing to the world God's message? that he is doing the work of God's messenger? There is but one reply to these questions. He must fulfil the Scriptures. When John the Baptist was asked to give an account of himself, he boasted no great names, no great work, no great authority. He was not even worthy to unloose the shoe-latchet of the coming One. He was content simply to be “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah.” John 1:23. Elijah's message was prefaced with the solemn, awful thought of Jehovah's existence: “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand.” The antitypes of Elijah and John will be those who are content to bear God's message. Their credentials will be that message, the truth of God, borne with no dependence upon the human, but with all dependence upon God its Giver. They will bear to the world God's last great threefold message with an ever-growing sense that they must decrease while Christ's coming glory increases. They will not lead man to trust in man, but in the living God, and the Spirit will bear witness to their work. Will there be signs connected with this work?—There will. The truth of God still holds: “And these signs shall follow them that believe.” See Mark 16:17, 18. Sons and daughters shall prophesy, young men shall see visions, and old men dream8 dreams, and God's Spirit will be generally poured out. Acts 2:17–21. The “last days” include the last day. The people looking, waiting, for Christ's coming will “come behind in no gift.” 1 Cor. 1:5–7. All these things will be seen among the people of God; but the chief witness of this divine acceptance and mission will be the truth of God, witnessed,— First of all, in the testimony of righteous living in obedience to all the commandments of God, according to His Word—the creative power of the Gospel in character; and— Secondly, in bearing to the world the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, according to that Word. Miracle-working Not Evidence.
The working of miracles is not evidence of God's approval. “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by Thy name, and by Thy name cast out devils, and by Thy name do many mighty works?’ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity [lawlessness, law-breaking].” Matt. 7:22, 23. Of the wonder-workings of one last-day deception, we are told: “They are the spirits of demons, working signs [miracles]; which go forth unto the kings of the whole world, to gather them together unto the battle of the great day of God Almighty.” Rev. 16:14. And again we read that Satan will work just previous to Christ's coming “with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that are perishing.” 2 Thess. 2:9, 10. “Lying wonders” and “deceit of unrighteousness” is false wonder-working appearing as the true, and sin appearing as righteousness. These things show that no wonder-workings are of themselves evidences of truth, or of the presence of God. The great test is His Word in heart, in life, in speech. Those who are deceived by Satan's deceptive working are those who “received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” 2 Thess. 2:10. Says the Lord through His prophet, “To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isa. 8:20. And our Lord utters the same truth in this saying: “By their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 7:20, 21. The great supreme test is the keeping and teaching of God's law and the faith of Jesus, as taught,—not in human creed or dictated by human fancy, or tradition, or expediency,—but as taught in His holy Word, as kept by Jesus Christ; and all glory will be given to God, and none to man. Whether Mr. Dowie's teaching and work bears these evidences and credentials, let the reader judge. May God guide him or her by His Spirit into all truth.