God produces within us, says a writer in the Nashville Christian Advocate, the right spirit—the disposition to obey. This is the main thing. Then He furnishes us with great principles—not rules—for the guidance of our lives. Rules are made out of cast iron, and when we try to break them they break. But principles have infinite elasticity, and are capable of adjustment to all the varying circumstances of human life. Furthermore, lest we should fail correctly to interpret and apply these principles, God gives us particular cases under them—specimen cases—for our instruction. Finally, when He has done all this, He throws us on our liberty, and bids us walk worthy of our calling. When the little boy is just beginning to walk, his mother watches every step that he takes. Even after he gets large enough to go away from home, she still thinks it necessary to tell him how long he shall stay, with whom he shall associate, what he shall and shall not do—prescribing the very form of all his conduct. But when he passes the gates of manhood, if he be the high-minded young man that he ought to be, she knows that it is not necessary for her to do more than follow him to the door, put her hand on his shoulder, leave a kiss on his lips, and say to him, "My son, you must not do anything to-day that you think would bring grief and pain to my heart." She trusts him enough to throw him upon himself. So God trusts His children, not tying them down with petty and minute restrictions, but leaving them free to do as they please, with this only condition that they do nothing to grieve Him. He puts them on their honor; and it were better for them to die than to dishonor Him.
Liars, and Their Destiny.
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” 1 John 1: 8-10. “And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in Him.” Chapter 2: 3, 4. “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” Chapter 4: 20. “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in thru the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” Rev. 22: 14, 15.
The Word of the Lord
By Abdiel
The American Revised Version.
In my article of last week several reasons were given as to why we should feel reasonably certain that we have the expressed will of our Father in the English versions of the Bible. The editor of the Sunday School Times well says: "It is not the Bible that is being revised; it is man's fallible translations from one human language into another that are capable of constant improvement in order to better convey the Father's message." This is the great object of every worthy translation, to enable us better to understand what God has said to us in the originals.
In the article of last week the following English translations and versions were noted: the Wyclif Bible, in 1382; Tyndale's Bible, 1535; the Coverdale Bible, 1535; Matthew's Bible, 1537; Taverner's Bible, 1539; the Great, or Crammer's, Bible, 1539; the Geneva Bible (the first printed in Roman with divided verses, popular for more than half a century), 1560; the Bishop's Bible, 1569; the "Authorized Version" 1611. This last was never authorized by any one; it came into general use because it was the better translation. Since that time there have been many translations of the New Testament, and a number of the Old Testament. The latest translations of note are the Revised Version of 1885 and the American Standard Revised Version of 1901. Of these two the latter is confessedly the better. Some of the reasons for this are as follows:
1. The revisers had a longer time to perfect their work and consult the very latest authorities in language and text.
2. The American Revisers sought to correct as far as they could all inaccurate translations. Note this in 1 Tim. 6:10, in "The love of money is the root of all evil," or as in the A. R. V., "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." In 1 Cor. 11:27, compare "unworthily" as in the common version with "in an unworthy manner" as in the A. R. V. The latter version substitutes "boil" for "seethe;" "crime" instead of "fault" in John 18:38. There are many instances similar.
3. The Personal God, the Ever-living God, the Covenant God, the God of Revelation, the Friend of His People, is designated by the memorial name "Jehovah." The common version renders it "LORD" and "GOD," and printed in small capitals. How much more means to us the very name by which God revealed Himself to His children!
4. Some have gathered the idea that the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit are quite distinct; the A. R. V. renders the original by the Holy Spirit, as facts warrant, more uniform and expressive.
5. Some words in our common version are now obsolete; for instance, the "meat offering" had no flesh about it, and is properly rendered in the A. R. V., "meal offering." The Israelites did not "borrow" from their Egyptian neighbors, but "asked" of them the various things named, and so the A. R. V. has "asked." The word "let" formerly meant to "hinder," "restrain," while now it means permit, allow. The A. R. V. renders restrain.
6. The American Revision is much more uniform. For instance, in the common version three words are, in the New Testament, indiscriminately rendered "hell," namely, tartarus, gehenna, hades, with nothing to show that they do not all mean the same thing. But the A. R. V. renders the first two terms by the word "hell," with the original word in the margin, and transliterates the third term, hades, equivalent to the Hebrew term sheol in the Old Testament, which is also transliterated and transferred but not translated. The reader of the American Revision knows at a glance whether the reference is to the state of the dead, both righteous and wicked, or to the place of future punishment—gehenna.
7. All the dignity, solemnity, and beauty of style of the common version is retained, and often enhanced. It represents the best scholarship of the ages in an honest attempt to translate the word of God into the beautiful language of every-day life; and it ought to be prized above all other translations. There is none better save one, and that is the translation which the Spirit of God makes upon the heart and mind and in the experience of the devoted Christian; but that, too, is only safe as compared with the written word. In every reading we prize the American Standard Revised Version more and more.
ABDIEL.
Christ’s Service Requires Work
“Christ’s service is no service for an idler. There is no place in all the kingdom of heaven for an idle man, either in this world or the next. Indeed, no man can follow Christ without becoming a busy man, as his Master was before him. Work is one of the world’s great blessings. It is work that wins wages. And yet there is no easy task that may, not be made hard by leaving Christ out of it. So there is no hard task but may be made easy if we put Christ and His helpfulness in it.”
Do Not Procrastinate
“Putting off work means adding to it. The weeds that should have been killed before the rain are many times harder to kill after the rain, with the delay that follows while waiting for the soil to get into condition again.” Christ did not procrastinate in His work. He said, “I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work.” John 9: 4.
Keeping a Clear Conscience
"KEEP your conscience as clear as possible, and try to get better acquainted with it."
Calling and Collection Sure
"Some preachers make the scripture read: 'Make your calling and collection sure.'"
The Bells of Prayer.
By Eliza H. Morton
UP in the Tauern Mountains
Are bells on the summit peaks,
They hang in the golden sunshine
All silent for days and weeks;
But lo! when the storm wind rises
And blasts from the hilltops blow,
Those bells send their peals while swinging,
Far down in the valley below.
And so in each heart is hanging
A bell, yea, a bell of prayer,
Oft silent in days of sunshine,
But pealing when storms are there.
'Tis well in the days of beauty,
In the solemn and quiet hour,
To set all the prayer bells ringing,
For prayer is the key to power.
ELIZA H. MORTON.
Called to Service
"WE are brought into the kingdom of God on earth for service. God will supply the necessary ability. He never yet has called any son or daughter to a work without giving them the necessary wisdom, strength, and grace to rightly do it. Our sole responsibility is to employ well the grace He supplies. No one who thus works need ever be ashamed to face either God or man."
Reading, Conference, and Writing
READING maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.— Bacon.
Who Will Be Deceived?
By B. E. Beddoe
FROM God's word we learn that a little time from this almost the entire world shall be deceived by Satan. At first thought this seems impossible; but upon careful investigation we find people educating themselves for this very thing. In Heb. 3: 13 (last part) we have the following: "Lest any of you be hardened thru the deceitfulness of sin." It is sin that is so deceitful, and by it—perhaps unwittingly—people educate themselves to be deceived.
While Satan is responsible for sowing the seed and watering it as opportunity affords; man must be held accountable for the way it is digged about and encouraged to grow until it becomes a plant of such enormous proportions that he will have neither the desire nor the power to root it out.
To illustrate: A man acquiring the appetite for alcoholic drinks argues with himself, "Beer is a food, whisky stimulates and strengthens, also keeps me from freezing in very cold weather," etc. Why does he reason with himself thus when he knows he may ruin his life by the habit? Answer: He is endeavoring to educate his conscience not to trouble him in what he is doing, and so is deceiving himself to believe sin is right. Of just such the Lord has said, "Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise."
When the natural heart longs to think, say, or do something that the conscience condemns, it will commence to reason with, and search for, that which will soothe the conscience. If this course is pursued until its age is numbered by years, is it any wonder that the conscience is "hardened thru the deceitfulness of sin"? When people have been educating themselves thus for years, is it to be wondered at that "evil men and seducers . . . wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived"? 2 Tim. 3: 13. Should we stand aghast when God says the day draws on apace that they shall "believe a lie"? 2 Thess. 2: 11.
As "there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect," could one, after having deceived self until that time, expect anything else but to be carried away with the last great deceptions which shall sweep almost the entire world into their nets? Or shall we heed the admonition of the apostle Paul: "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day; lest any of you be hardened thru the deceitfulness of sin." Heb. 3: 12, 13.
B. E. Beddoe.
The Book That Could Not Sink.
(A True Story.)
ABOUT sixty years ago a party of missionaries set sail from America to carry the light of the Gospel to India, Burma, and other lands overshadowed by the false religions of Buddha and Mohamet.
There were no steamboats in those days. An old yellow sheet lies before me now, written on one of those six months' voyages to India, telling quite simply and uncomplainingly of such terrible discomforts on the way as even our missionaries in the heart of Africa, to-day, are not called on to endure.
For instance, the water supply ran so low, on this voyage of which my faded letter tells, that when a shower of rain came, the voyagers were thankful to catch and drink the water that ran off the deck; tho barefooted sailors had splashed about in it.
But this missionary company, of which I set out to tell you, fared worse than having to drink dirty water, or having to thirst for more. For in a great storm their vessel was wrecked, and every one of them cast upon an uninhabited island. After days and days of suffering they were rescued; else this little true story would never have come to our ears.
But it is not of their adventures that I wish to tell—it is the strange story of a Book that did not sink.
It was black night when the ship containing the missionaries was wrecked; and when dawn rose over the island, and over the wet and weary castaways, nothing was in sight on the wide waters but spars, and beam ends, and bits of rigging, tossing, as if in a wild game with the rough waves.
But as one of the missionaries walked along the sands in the early sunlight of the new day, he saw lying at his feet, soaked and discolored, but intact, his own Bible.
The missionary pressed it to his bosom, and the whole company kneeled under the open sky while he read aloud psalm after psalm of praise and thanksgiving and trust in God.
Perhaps you have heard this little story before; but I want it to suggest to you, to-day, the history of that great Book of books, in all ages. It has sometimes seemed to suffer shipwreck; it has been buffeted by waves of unbelief and scorn and denial. The church itself (of the Middle Ages), the calling itself Christian, sought to bury it fathoms deep, in an unknown tongue, and in edicts forbidding it to be read.
But God's care was ever over it, and not a page was ever lost or defaced.
Our Bible is threatened to-day—not by the boisterous clamor of the storms; but the more deadly work of enemies inside the ship, cutting holes here and holes there; denying this Gospel, and that epistle, and every supernatural record.
Will the ship sink?—Never believe it! The missionary's Bible, lying unhurt on the sands, in the quiet sunlight that followed the storm, is a picture of the word of God for all the future.
"Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven."
"Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever."
"I have known of old that Thou hast founded them forever."
—Youth's Evangelist.
The Commission and Power.
By W. M. Healey
WHEN Jesus was about to ascend up into heaven after His resurrection, He said to His disciples, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Matt. 28: 18-20.
The message is for all nations. And Jesus promised to be with His messengers “alway,” till the work should be finished, “even unto the end of the world,” and with them, not in weakness, but having “all power . . . in heaven and in earth.”
This power, then, is at the command and for the use of the messenger of Christ. But the messenger must carry the true message and be found “teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Should the messenger fail to “declare the whole counsel of God,” if for selfish reasons he “keep back a part,” then the promise is not for him. But he who gives all, and teaches all, as Christ taught, will have access to the “all power,” and the companionship and aid of the Lord of grace and glory.
W. M. HEALEY.
"That Day and Hour."
By Laura Gehly
So MANY are misled by that passage in the Bible, "That day and hour knoweth no man," and think the Adventists are wrong for saying the time of the end is near. They seem to read that passage and stop there.
An explanation was given by Christ to His disciples on Olivet. The disciples had asked the question, "What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Jesus gave them signs, and said, "When ye shall see all these things, know it is near, even at the doors." Tho no man knows the day or the hour of His coming, we are instructed that it is near, even at the door. If we refuse to heed the warning, it will be as fatal for us as it was for those who rejected the message in the days of Noah. "If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief."
It is plain that some will be watching, and the Lord will not come to them as a thief. "Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." 1 Thess. 5:4. No man knows the day or the hour, continues to be the cry of the scoffer. The cry of "Peace, peace; when there is no peace," is one sign among many of the nearness of the end. Paul says, "When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them." 1 Thess. 5:3.
Let us study God's Book that we may be found among those who shall be watching.
LAURA GEHLY.
Pray and Go to Work
Some people pray and then sit down to wait for God to send an answer, ready-made, before they do anything. That is not the best way. Pray; then, without waiting, go to work, that you may be ready to meet the answer. When you pray for rain, hasten to get your rain-water barrel out, even tho no cloud is in sight. God controls the clouds. You control the barrel. Answers to prayer seldom come to idle men.—Anon.
Drunkenness and Crime
By Mrs. E. G. White
By Mrs. E. G. White
Their Significance
In these days when vice and crime of every form are rapidly increasing, there is a tendency to become so familiar with existing conditions that we lose sight of their cause and of their significance. More intoxicating liquors are used to-day than have ever been used heretofore. In the horrible details of revolting drunkenness and terrible crime, the newspapers give but a partial report of the story of the resultant lawlessness. Violence is in the land. And yet, notwithstanding the many evidences of the increase of crime and lawlessness, men seldom stop to think seriously of the meaning of these things. Almost without exception, men boast of the enlightenment and progress of the present age.
Upon those to whom God has given light, rests the solemn responsibility of calling the attention of others to the significance of the increase of drunkenness and crime. They should also bring before the minds of others the Scriptures that plainly portray the conditions which shall exist just prior to the second coming of Christ. Faithfully should they uplift the divine standard, and raise their voices in protest against the sanctioning of the liquor traffic by legal enactment.
The evils that are so apparent at the present time are the same that brought destruction to the antediluvian world. "In the days that were before the Flood," one of the prevailing sins was drunkenness. From the record in Genesis we learn that "the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence." Crime reigned supreme. Men whose reason was dethroned by intoxicating drink, thought little of taking the life of a human being.
"As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." The drunkenness and the crime that now prevail have been foretold by the Saviour. We are living in the closing days of this earth's history. It is a most solemn time. Everything betokens the soon return of Christ. The very conditions we see in the great cities of our land, the mad acts of men whose minds have been inflamed by drugged liquor sold under sanction of the rulers of the people, the dead and the dying whose destruction can be traced to the use of poisonous liquor—all these evils are but a fulfilment of our Saviour's prophecy, whereby we may know that Jesus will soon appear in the clouds of heaven.
Divine Warnings
The Lord can not bear much longer with an intemperate and perverse generation. There are many solemn warnings in the Scriptures against the use of intoxicating liquors. In the days of old, when Moses was rehearsing the desire of Jehovah concerning His people, there were uttered against the drunkard the following words:
"And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, tho I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: the Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven."
Solomon says: "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." "Who hath wo? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder."
The use of wine among the Israelites was one of the causes that finally resulted in their captivity. Thru the prophet Amos the Lord said to them:
"Wo to them that are at ease in Zion! . . . Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall: that chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David; that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed."
"Wo to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning! Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness." "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted."
These words of warning and command are pointed and decided. Let those in positions of public trust take heed, lest thru wine and strong drink they forget the law, and pervert judgment. Rulers and judges should ever be in a condition to fulfil the instruction of the Lord: "Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in anywise, and they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry; and My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless."
The Lord God of heaven ruleth. He alone is above all authority, over all kings and rulers. The Lord has given special directions in His word in reference to the use of wine and strong drink. He has forbidden their use, and enforced His prohibitions with strong warnings and threatenings. But His forbidding the use of intoxicating beverages is not an exercise of arbitrary authority. He seeks to restrain men, in order that they may escape from the evil results of indulgence in wine and strong drink. Degradation, cruelty, wretchedness, and strife follow as the natural results of intemperance. God has pointed out the consequence of following this course of evil. This He has done that there may not be a perversion of His laws, and that men may be spared the widespread misery resulting from the course of evil men who, for the sake of gain, sell maddening intoxicants.
The relation of crime to intemperance is well understood by men who have to deal with those who transgress the laws of the land. In the words of a Philadelphia judge:
"We can trace four-fifths of the crimes that are committed to the influence of rum. There is not one case in twenty where a man is tried for his life, in which rum is not the direct or indirect cause of the murder. Rum and blood, I mean the shedding of blood, go hand in hand."
A district attorney in the city of Boston is reported as declaring that "ninety-nine out of one hundred of the crimes in our commonwealth are produced by intoxicating liquors."
(Continued Next Week.)
Missionary Work
MISSIONARY work prospers not because of the extraordinary capabilities of the workers, but rather, in the language of an experienced leader, because of "the exceedingly ripe condition of most mission fields." Still it is a mistake to send out as missionaries a class of preachers who have proved failures in the churches. Occasionally, but rarely, a poor pastor may become a good missionary, but the safest way is to send out the strongest preachers and the wisest leaders into the mission fields. Take the church at Antioch as an example. When, under the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit, they selected men for the foreign field, they chose Barnabas and Saul, the two most eminent teachers and preachers in their community, and the two who seemed to be the most needed at home.—Selected.
Self-Control and Christian Striving
POINTING to the self-denial practised by the contestants in the ancient Greek games, the apostle Paul writes: "Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air; but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."—"Education," page 129.
Blowing Their Own Sails
"Many would speedily reach the heavenly haven if progress could be secured by blowing their own sails."
The "More Sure Word of Prophecy"
Its Purpose.
1. What does the prophet say of God?
"He revealeth the deep and secret things: He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him." Dan. 2:22.
2. Thru whom does God reveal His purposes?
"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets." Amos 3:7.
3. To whom does the revelation belong?
"The secret things belong unto the LORD our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." Deut. 29:29.
NOTE.—A prophet is "one who speaks as the inspired representative of a divine being; one who delivers the divine messages, or interprets the divine will."—"Standard Dictionary." Prophecy, according to the same authority, is (1) "a prediction made under divine influence and protection; more loosely, any prediction or foretelling; (2) discourse delivered under divine inspiration or direction; something uttered by a teacher as the representative of God and for God." The inspiration pertains rather to the words, the writing, than to the person. It is not the prophet, but the prophecy, that is inspired—God-breathed. Prediction of future events is therefore one of its great offices. It also reveals present conditions as God sees them and the duty of His people in view of these conditions and of our relation to Him.
4. What does the apostle call this revelation of the future and of present duty?
"We have also a more sure word of prophecy." 2 Peter 1:19.
5. "More sure" than what? What is the comparison?
"More sure" than the evidences of the senses, seeing and hearing combined. See verses 16 to 18.
NOTE.—The apostle declares that the making known of Christ's second coming was not a "cunningly devised fable;" for God revealed what it meant in the vision of the transfiguration of Christ on the holy mount; and that glory they SAW, and God's voice they HEARD, while they were with Him there. See Matt. 17:1-9. But more than this visible, audible evidence is God's "more sure word of prophecy."
6. In what shall we do well?
"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed." 2 Peter 1:19.
7. What is it designed to be for the children of God, and for how long?
"Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts."
NOTE.—The time of sin in this world is known as the night, in contradistinction to the glorious reign of Christ to come, known as the day. The morning, or breaking of that day, is the rising of the Sun of righteousness, the second coming of the Master. To that coming day belong His children of light, and until that day dawns and He comes into life and heart and experience of His people such as has never been known before, God's prophecy lights their way. See Rom. 13:11, 13; 1 Thess. 5:1-8.
For the Latter Days.
8. What does Daniel say of one of his prophecies?
"But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days." "He that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass." Dan 2:28, 29.
9. Did the prophets themselves always understand the things revealed?
"And I heard, but I understood not; then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?" Dan 12:8.
10. What reply was made to him?
"And he said, Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end." Dan. 12:9, 4.
11. What would then occur?
"Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Dan. 12:4.
NOTE.—That is, many would seek out God's truth, searching the Scriptures, giving "sedulous attention to these things," and knowledge of the prophecies should be increased.
12. What therefore are the prophets represented as doing?
"Of which salvation the prophets have inquired 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 signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." 1 Peter 1:10, 11.
13. What was revealed to them?
"Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into." 1 Peter 1:12.
14. What may we then conclude?
"Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we thru patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." Rom. 15:4. See also 1 Cor. 10:11.
A Sign of the True God.
15. What was Jehovah acknowledged to be because of His power to reveal?
"Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets." Dan. 2:47.
16. What does God declare Himself to be?
"For I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me." Isa. 46:9.
17. What evidence is set forth in support of this claim?
"Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure." Isa. 46:10.
18. What does Jesus say of one of His noted prophecies?
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away." Matt. 24:35.
Examples of Bible Prophecies.
19. The Hebrew people.
"And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other." Deut. 28:64.
"Thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations." Verse 37.
"The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations." Num. 23:9.
NOTE.—What a prophecy is this of over three thousand years ago concerning a nation, one of the striking characteristics of which was clannishness. Go where one will, to every nation on the face of the earth, and the Jew has been there before him; and still he is, seemingly without reason, a proverb and a byword. Seeking political favors, all that he has found are exceptions which prove the rule, and create greater astonishment. He does not become a part of any people. No wonder that when the infidel king, Frederick the Great, asked the court chaplain for an evidence that God's word is true, he replied laconically, "Sire, the Jews."
20. What prophecy was uttered against Egypt in the day of her greatness and pride, now literally fulfilled?
"It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations; for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations." Eze. 29:15. There is not a nation to-day to do Egypt homage.
21. What prophecy was uttered against Tyre when she was the merchant city of the earth?
"And I will make thee like the top of a rock; thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more; for I the LORD have spoken it." Eze. 26:14. How literally has it been fulfilled.
22. In view of the importance of prophecy, what admonition should we heed?
"Despise not prophesyings." 1 Thess. 5:20.
23. What should we do regarding claimed prophecies?
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." 1 Thess. 5:21.
24. By what test are we to try the prophets?
"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.
25. What is the result of rejecting the prophecies of God's word?
Obscurity in Prophecy.
THE absence of greater clearness in the prophets is due to God's purpose to give light enough to guide the willing, to leave darkness enough to confound the willfully blind. Hence the prophecy is not dependent for its interpretation on the prophet; nay, he was often ignorant of the full meaning of his own word (2 Peter 1:20, 21). Moreover, if the form of the prophecies had been direct declaration, the fulfilment would have been liable to frustration. If also the time had been more distinctly marked, believers would have been less in a state of continued expectancy. The prophecies were designedly made up of many parts (polumeros, Heb. 12:1); fragmentary and figurative, the temporary and local fulfilment often foreshadowing the Messianic fulfilment. The obscurity in some parts of prophecies of which other parts have been plainly fulfilled is designed to exercise our faith, the obscure parts yet waiting their exhaustive fulfilment; for example, prophecies combining the first coming and the second coming of Christ, the parts concerning the latter of course yet require patient and prayerful investigation. Moreover, many prophecies, besides their references to events of the times of the sacred writer, look forward to ulterior fulfilments in Messiah and His kingdom; "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Rev. 19:10).—Fausset's Bible Cyclopedia, page 585.
Lack of Discernment.
By John Wesley
[From John Wesley, Sermon 71, on "The Signs of the Times."]
AND as it was with them in ancient times, so it is with the present generation. Thousands of those who bear the name of Christ are now given up to an undiscerning mind. The god of this world hath so blinded their eyes that the light can not shine upon them; so that they can no more discern the signs of the times than the Pharisees and Sadducees could of old. A wonderful instance of this spiritual blindness, this total inability to discern the signs of the times mentioned in Scripture, is given us in the very celebrated work of a late eminent writer who supposes the New Jerusalem came down from heaven when Constantine the Great called himself a Christian. I say called himself a Christian; for I dare not affirm that he was one, any more than Peter the Great. I can not but believe he would have come nearer the mark if he had said that it was the time when a huge cloud of infernal brimstone and smoke came up from the bottomless pit! For surely there never was a time wherein Satan gained so fatal an advantage over the church of Christ as when such a flood of riches and honor and power broke in upon it, particularly on the clergy.
Believe His Prophets
"And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling-place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy." 2 Chron. 36:15, 16.
26. What blessing is pronounced upon those who heed His prophetic word?
"Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." Rev. 1:3.
27. What then is our duty and privilege?
"Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper." 2 Chron. 20:20.
Prophecy.
By E. Henderson, D.D.
It is impossible seriously to peruse this collection of prophetic writings (the minor prophets) without discovering the Omniscient Eye to which all future events, with the most minute of their attendant circumstances, are present; the Omnipotent Arm, which, in the most difficult cases, secures the accomplishment of the divine purposes; the glorious attributes of Jehovah as the Moral Governor of the universe, and the special Friend and Protector of His people; the deep depravity of the human heart; the multiform phases of moral evil; and the just retributions which befall mankind in the present state of existence. These, and numerous subjects of a kindred nature, furnish abundance of matter "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness," which, while it is able to make men "wise unto salvation, thru faith which is in Christ Jesus," is also admirably fitted to make the man of God "perfect, thoroly furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. 3: 15-17.—E. Henderson, D.D.
Evidences of Inspiration.
[Joseph Addison Alexander, in “Isaiah Translated and Explained.”]
THE gift of prophecy included that of foresight and prediction, but it included more. The prophet was inspired to reveal the will of God, to act as an organ of communication between God and man. . . . The restriction of these terms in modern parlance to the prediction of events still future has arisen from the fact that a large proportion of the revelations made in Scripture, and precisely those which are the most surprising and impressive, are of this description. The frequency of such revelations, and the prominence given to them, not in this modern usage merely, but in the word of God itself, admit of easy explanation. It is partly owing to the fact that revelations of the future would be naturally sought with more avidity, and treated with more deference, than any other by mankind in general. It is further owing to the fact that of all the kinds of revelation, this is the one which affords the most direct and convincing proof of the prophet's inspiration. The knowledge of the present or the past, or of general truths, might be imparted by special inspiration, but it might also be acquired in other ways; and this possibility of course makes the evidence of inspiration thus afforded more complete and irresistible than any other. Hence the function of foretelling what was future, altho but a part of the prophetic office, was peculiarly conspicuous and prominent in public view, and apt to be more intimately associated with the office itself in the memory of man.