Israel's Apostasy Does Not Change God's Purpose — His Kingdom Not a Theocracy to Enforce Religion — The People Saved Then as Now, Through the Gospel
THIS is the second of four articles by Mr. Porter showing the relations of the old covenant and the new covenant kingdom of God. Last week he spoke of the kingdom of glory as it was manifested in Eden before the fall of man. He showed that the continuance of that kingdom was dependent upon perfect obedience. He also showed that God had made full and complete arrangements for His kingdom of grace to step in and offer salvation to any of His creatures should they choose to sin. They have ever been left free to choose their own course of action.
Mr. Porter spoke last week of the opportunity afforded Israel at Sinai to reestablish the kingdom of God's glory, and how they agreed to obey, and how they failed, and how the kingdom of God's grace again provided pardon for those who choose to accept it. He spoke of the three thousand who refused the offered pardon and were executed then and there. The same thing would have happened to Adam and Eve in Eden had they not chosen the pardon so kindly offered in the kingdom of God's grace.
The article this week, taken with the one last week, covers the ground of what might be denominated the old covenant kingdom and its manifestations. In the next two papers will be articles dealing more specifically with the new covenant kingdom.
JEHOVAH did not abandon His attempt to develop the kingdom of God, peopled with free subjects, because Satan had invaded the dominion at the beginning in Eden. Neither did He abandon His attempt to develop Israel into a "holy nation," with freedom of choice, because Satan had led the nation into apostasy. For forty years Israel knew what appeared to be God's "breach of promise" to make them a holy nation, until the unbelieving murmurers were sifted out in the wilderness. Then the promise was fulfilled. Num. 14: 34.
FOR AT LEAST ONE GENERATION
The purpose of God in reestablishing with Israel the kingdom of glory and grace at Sinai, was accomplished in the days of Joshua; and a "holy nation," serving God, represented His kingdom before the world for at least one generation. "And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord, that He had done for Israel." Joshua 24: 31. During this time, He established His kingdom with Israel in the promised inheritance.
They were then standing with the kingdom in possession, as was Adam after the introduction of the law of pardon through Christ when the new covenant kingdom of grace was first revealed to Adam. Every soul that went into the promised inheritance was a child of faith. They went in under the leadership of Caleb and Joshua, who were men of triumphant faith. Numbers 14. The Sabbath, which was given to man in the beginning as a sign that the Creator of heaven and earth was the true God, was made known to Israel with the additional significance that Christ, the Creator, was now the Saviour and sanctifier of Israel. Eze. 20: 12.
THEY WERE SATAN'S ATTACKS
The wars against Israel were not ordinary national wars. They were Satan's attacks against the kingdom of God in Israel. God's methods of warfare were such as demanded the exercise of faith. Invisible angels, hornets, rams' horns, lamps and pitchers, were, upon various occasions, His warriors and implements of destruction. The sun stood still about a whole day as an evidence that the Lord was the King who was directing the battles.
In the days of Samuel the nation of Israel had so apostatized that they demanded a king like the nations', instead of God. 1 Sam. 8: 5. God enthroned Saul as king at their request. Samuel protested, but was informed that the people, in choosing Saul, had rejected God from being king of Israel. Verses 6, 7.
At the installation of Saul, Samuel said: "Ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the Lord your God was your king. Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired! and, behold, the Lord hath set a king over you." 1 Sam. 12: 12, 13.
God here again makes ridiculous the claim that the object of the old covenant was to enforce His worship and kingship. He gave the people the privilege of rejecting Him as king at any time they chose, while the old covenant kingdom of Israel continued. This also demonstrated that Satan had driven Adam from the throne of earthly dominion, and was attempting to unseat God from the throne of universal dominion. God was now able to demonstrate in part His justice in removing Satan and his angels from heaven. Their rebellion was incurable.
So God must, in the end, remove sin from the universe, or abdicate His throne. Sinners who refuse pardon and cleansing are of necessity removed in the removal of sin.
GOD'S THRONE NOT SURRENDERED
God did not surrender the throne of this earth to Satan when Adam was unseated. Neither did He abandon the throne of Israel when Satan succeeded, through the apostasy of Israel, in unseating Him from the throne of the old covenant kingdom. God still claimed the throne, although it was usurped by Satan for a time.
Saul being the choice of the people, God accepted him as king. After Saul, He chose David, a man after His own heart, and still successfully demonstrated that with a man of His own choosing at the head of the kingdom, as at the beginning, it was possible to administer the affairs of the nation of Israel for a time as a "holy nation."
MINISTRATION OF CONDEMNATION AND DEATH
The old covenant administration, like the original kingdom of God, began with a promise of obedience and an agreement that condemnation and death should be promptly visited upon transgressors. The death penalty was immediately inflicted upon those who did not accept the provisions of pardon, as a demonstration of the destiny of all impenitents after the Judgment. It also revealed how Adam would have been executed the day he sinned if he had not availed himself of the pardon offered through Christ. The administration was therefore a ministration of death.
YOKE OF BONDAGE
Since the kingdom of grace was also reestablished at Sinai, how was the old covenant an unbearable yoke of bondage? Blindness in part had happened to Israel. The blind can not see. So after Israel's later apostasy, they could not see, in the innocent lamb slain for sinners, "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Israel in blindness trusted in the ritual law to restore righteousness, and the moral law to preserve righteousness. That was a misconception of the purpose of the laws of both kingdoms. "The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ." Gal. 3: 24.378
The first duty of a schoolmaster is to teach. But the schoolmaster will not teach unless students will obey the rules of the school. So the added law of pardon, with its sacrificial system of offerings, was designed to teach that Christ alone could offer pardon, as He only had taken the place of the sinner under the death penalty; but Christ could not pardon and justify sinners except upon condition of obedience to the law of God's kingdom. Rom. 2: 13. The sinner was therefore taught from Sinai, as from Adam's fall, that there was no pardon available by works of law.
Paul instructed Israel that if works of law could save from sin, then Christ had died in vain. Gal. 2: 21.
THE LAW OF PARDON ADDED
The law of pardon was added because of transgression. It was added because works of law could not save. It was given to teach that there was salvation only in the voluntary substitution of Christ. It was therefore added because of transgression, until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made. That Seed was Christ. Gal. 3: 19, 16. Every sacrificial lamb offered, declared that the Seed would be seen on Calvary when the death penalty for transgression was voluntarily met in Christ. It was after blindness had perverted this teaching of the new covenant kingdom of grace, as it was associated in types and offerings with the old covenant kingdom through the worldly sanctuary, that it became fleshly, a yoke of bondage, and a persecuting religion. Gal. 4: 19-25.
When Israel had so far apostatized as to prostitute into an inquisition of religious persecution God's plans to save men, God said, "Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." Verse 30. "But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now." Verse 29.
THEY NEVER LEGISLATE ON RELIGIOUS QUESTIONS
A spiritual Christianity never legislates upon religious questions. A fleshly religion, a religion with works, persecutes. Cain persecuted Abel. Ishmael persecuted Isaac. The old covenant system was a perfect demonstration that works of law could not save sinners. It further demonstrated that through the apostasy of Adam, the original Edenic kingdom of God would have failed to maintain the kingdom of God in the earth if the kingdom of grace had not been established.
The kingdom of grace, through the new covenant, provided the pardon which the blood of animals, with a human priesthood and mediator, taught but could not provide. They could teach pardon, but they could not bestow the gift of righteousness. When that teaching became perverted, by Israel's seeking righteousness through the works of the law instead of through the faith it taught, it left them in bondage. Human priests and blood of animals were of no avail in removing sin. They could teach of a Saviour, but they could not save. The system was good in that it taught the true standard of holiness in its law, and foreshadowed, through its worldly sanctuary services, redemption through Christ.
THE GOSPEL THEN AND NOW
People were saved then, as now, through the gospel. "And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." 1 Cor. 10: 4. "For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." Heb. 4: 2. "But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned He His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath." Ps. 78: 38. The gospel was then the same as now, and their forgiveness as real as ours.
The manna from heaven and the smitten rock foreshadowed Christ as the bread and water of life. In the time of David, the Lord declared that the throne of David, which was the throne of the Lord, should be the throne of the promised Seed, Christ (Gal. 3: 16), throughout eternal ages. Ps. 89: 35-37. The law of the kingdom of David, which was the law of Ten Commandments spoken from Sinai, unaltered, shall therefore be the law of the eternal kingdom of Christ. Verses 27-34.
ON THE LORD'S THRONE
Thereafter, "Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father." 1 Chron. 29: 23. God still chose the kings, and passed the throne from one to another, until it became so corrupt as basely to misrepresent its King, and failed to present to the world a nation of holy people.
In the days of Zedekiah, B.C. 590, the Lord permitted the Babylonians to deprive the kingdom of Israel of its king. Eze. 12: 8-13; Jer. 52: 8-14. God then declared that the throne should be overturned, overturned, overturned, after which Christ, whose the kingdom is by right, should take it as His own and reign eternally. "And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him." Eze. 21: 25-27.
THRICE OVERTURNED
The three overturnings have taken place. And according to Daniel's prophecy, before the ten divisions of the Roman Empire shall pass, the everlasting kingdom of Christ shall come. Until then it will not again be established in this world.
For any nation to undertake to establish the kingdom of Christ in this world before that time, will be for that nation to break with Christ and become a persecuting power, as did Israel in their blindness and apostasy. Human hands will not establish the kingdom of Christ. God will do that without their aid when the set time has come. "In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." Dan. 2: 44. R. C. P.
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SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS
Our authority for the doctrines we teach is the Bible. Quotations are usually from the King James Version or the American Standard Revised.
"OUR FATHER"
Revealed to Men Through Christ — To Be Revealed to Other Men by the Believer
Doubtless many have repeated the opening words of the Lord's Prayer, without an adequate comprehension of their real import. If such persons were questioned on the point, they probably would reveal that their conception of the One so addressed is that of an infinitely distant Being, an austere character, seated on a high throne, scanning suspiciously the general character of the world's inhabitants. Regarding in this light the Person, addressed in prayer, it would be next to impossible to think of His being intimately approached, or that His sympathy for individual sorrow could be elicited in a truly fatherly way.
IT CAME FROM THE PAGANS
This vague, indefinite view of the first great Cause is evidently of satanic origin; for when examining pagan superstition, the prominent thought there unfolded is seen to fashion God as a Being whose wrath against mankind must needs be constantly appeased by gift or sacrifice, to prevent Him from venting spleen upon the world at large. Sad to say, this opinion, in the main, is held by many supposing themselves to be proper Christians. Such affirm that since man had so greatly offended God through sin, it became necessary for the sacrifice of His only-begotten Son to come between irritated divine wrath and annoying human rebels.
A humanly ordained education of the Jewish church led that people to look upon God as One far removed from their midst, and hence but indirectly interested in their needs. Consequently a great lack was felt, which was thought to be found in a visible divinity. They had been severely reproved, in the days of Moses, for bringing forth a golden calf to be worshiped; but this did not satisfy their ingrained longing, and latterly they began to worship the sun, as a tangible form worthy of adoration. Eze. 8: 16. But in this, no sense of a loving, fatherly care was made manifest.
HE REVEALS THE FATHER
Thus matters stood until the appearance of the Lord Jesus in the flesh, whose first movements were to break down this great barrier to man's eternal happiness. But in presenting Himself to the world as the "Son of man," He took occasion to emphasize the statement that "no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." Matt. 11: 27. This pronouncement covers that other assertion that no man can come to the Father but by the Lord Christ. John 14: 6.
But how was Christ to reveal the Father through His own person? By preaching? By earnest descriptive words, explaining the character of that Being?—No, indeed; for that, like some other things, could not be adequately told in words.
As an example: When the writer returned from the civil war between the states, he was asked more than once how one feels when under fire of the enemy's guns. He was obliged to say that379he could not tell, for words failed to express the sensation; but if one would know about it, he must experience the feeling for himself.
So it was and must be in revealing the nature and character of "our Father." He could be made known only in the person of another. This was made clear when, on a certain occasion, the Saviour had told His disciples that He was about to go to the Father, but that they, having been with Him, now knew the Father through His own personality. Hearing this, Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." Jesus replied, and with probable sorrow of voice: "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." John 14: 7-9.
IN HIM WAS THE LIFE
A single expression by the evangelist tells just how the Saviour's person actually revealed the Father: "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." John 1: 4. That tells the story. The very life of God was in the Son, and that life was the light from heaven shining through the Son to give the knowledge of the glory of God. Personal life was the light needed then as now, to penetrate moral darkness, and reveal the power of a Father's love. Not only was a personal life necessary to reveal God, but the revelation of a loving Father could not be made but through the life of an only-begotten Son.
Continued association with the Son of God was not only enough to disclose the essential character of the Father, but it also could and did uncover the incarnate love of God's fatherhood. To demonstrate this fact, the Saviour took occasion to ask His disciples, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" The information was quickly rendered that a partial verdict made Him John the Baptist, some thought Him to be Elijah, and others were satisfied that He was Jeremiah or some other old prophet.
"THOU ART THE CHRIST"
The question was then put a little closer: "But whom say ye that I am?" Here was a supreme test. Would those who had been favored with an intimate knowledge of the Master's ways regard Him as did the world at large? How could they? Peter had a reply ready. Said he, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Matt. 16: 13-16.
The divine benediction pronounced upon this ardent declaration was highly significant. The men of the world, whose highest ideal of morality was the recorded works of former prophets, being themselves removed from the immediate presence of the Master's radiant life, yet seeing from the distance His wondrous achievements, could place no higher estimate upon Him and His mission than the worldly view to which their minds had been confined. But the disciples, having been more closely related to their Lord, were bound to judge of Him by what had been directly revealed to their senses from the outflowing light of God's life possessed by the Master. So the answer rendered by Peter was declared by Christ to have been prompted not by human judgment, as were the conclusions drawn by the mass of the people, but by the Father in heaven, whose life had shown through His dear Son, to the enlightenment of those moving in His presence.
THE SUPREME MOTIVE
Then, too, there had been unveiled, in that matchless life, the supreme motive of the Father in sending His Son to the world: "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." 1 John 4: 16. Putting in practise the great principle of love in every movement of His life, the Lord Jesus revealed that the abode of the God of love was within Him. The measure of God's love, however, was not alone in giving a Son to the world, but in giving One whose every act was that of loving sympathy. This was the fulness of the Father's love openly displayed.
This fulness was proclaimed in that wondrous declaration to Nicodemus, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." What a depth of meaning is couched in this statement! Christ was God's "only-begotten." He possessed every element of God's nature to the highest possible degree, especially that of love. Coming to earth in the flesh, that essential point could not fail to shine with its wonted luster in the sight of fallen humanity. To believe in Him as the actual masterpiece of God's fatherhood is to receive from Him a knowledge of God, which is the passport to life eternal.
J. O. C.
Question Corner
By Editor
WE can not answer repeatedly in the same volume questions upon the same scripture. The name and address must accompany question. It is well always to enclose stamp for reply.
4320 — PASTORAL SUPPORT
What is the Scriptural teaching in regard to pastoral support? Should ministers of the gospel receive wages? Some claim that because Christ did not accept pay in the form of money, therefore ministers now should not. H. T.
According to the apostle Paul, in 1 Cor. 9:7-14, the ministers should be supported by the believers in the gospel. "What soldier ever serveth at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?" R. V. The minister is spiritually a soldier (2 Tim. 2:3), a vine-dresser (1 Cor. 3:6-8), and a shepherd (1 Peter 5:2, 4), and as such, has a right to remuneration.
In 2 Cor. 12:13 Paul shows that he had not allowed himself to be a burden to the church in Corinth; and from his admission that he had done wrong in refusing the same support from the Corinthian brethren that the others had given, we see that he considered it the legitimate means of sustenance. The Levitical system of support by tithe was instituted by God Himself. Lev. 27:30-32; Num. 18:21, 24.
While we have no record of Christ's receiving remuneration for His ministry, we know that He received entertainment at the hands of those who had accepted Him. In the nature of things, He could not receive direct pay, because there was as yet no organization from whom to receive this. Nevertheless, the fact that Judas, the treasurer for the group of the twelve disciples and Christ, carried a money-bag from which he drew for their necessities, shows that they received help from some source.
“No Man Hath Ascended”
By Editor
Please explain through the columns of your paper John 3:13. I have heard it quoted as proof that Enoch and Elijah were not taken to heaven.
This verse should be understood in connection with those which have preceded. The word “and” in this case is used to show the addition of new thoughts without defining the exact relation in which they stand to what has gone before. After explaining to Nicodemus the new birth, the Saviour leads him to a more correct understanding concerning Himself. No man, with his limited intelligence, has known the mysteries of the kingdom of God. No man has ascended to heaven to bring down to man the knowledge of the mysteries of God, save the Son of God Himself, who by His nature as God had no need to ascend up into heaven in order to learn the things of heaven; for He knew, with a knowledge which mere man never can possess, what was done in heaven.
The connection of our Saviour's argument is something like this: Even earthly things, comparatively speaking, such as the new birth, you could not discover by reason — you can only understand it when revealed to you, and then only by the most familiar explanation. What will you do, then, in the case of higher mysteries than this, in the understanding of what may be called heavenly things? I am the only one who can know; for no man has ascended into heaven and returned again with the explanation of these things. I, as God, fill heaven as well as earth; I therefore know all things, even the things of heaven. Nevertheless you receive not My testimony, you believe not My words. Compare Deut. 30:12; Prov. 30:4; Eph. 4:9, 10; Rom. 11:34.
SYSTEMATIC BIBLE STUDY
By Editor
IF we are closely studying the book of Isaiah, we are not only noting its very rich promises, but we are also observing the many prophecies that it contains. Some of these prophecies point forward to the work of Christ at His first advent, and others reach on to the end of time. In our reading this week we find this statement: "I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste." Isa. 28:16. In many New Testament prophecies, reference is made to this passage, and it is applied to Christ. The Saviour upbraided the disciples for not understanding the prophecies. We have already seen that in our reading of Luke 24:25-27. And in the forty-fourth verse of the same chapter, He tells us how we should study the prophecies as written by Moses and the prophets, and as found in the Psalms. Prophecy is one of the most important parts of the Bible, and we should seek to become of keen understanding in grasping its true meaning.
Read one chapter in Joshua each week-day and two on the Sabbath. Read one chapter in Isaiah each day. Read one chapter in 2 Timothy, Titus, or Philemon each week-day and two on the Sabbath.
