In our last two numbers we have considered two of the great characters of this chapter, the woman, and her foe, the dragon. They were set before the prophet as signs in the heaven, showing their prominence, visible to all, and also indicating that they were in the spiritual field, not the secular.
The woman we learned was a symbol of the church of God. The dragon represented the devil in his attitude to the people of God, working through the great dynasties of earth symbolized by the heads.
The waiting and travailing of the woman was from the time of the Babylonian captivity till Christ the Man Child was born. Satan's wrath was against the woman to destroy the Man Child; then, as soon as the Man Child was born, the wrath was turned against Him, and at last it put Him to death through the Roman power. Yet, notwithstanding all the powers of earth were enlisted by the dragon against the Seed of the woman, the "Child was caught up to God and to His throne." Verse 6 we concluded to study with verse 14. This week we study the war in heaven. What is —
The Answer of the Text?
[The answers to the questions are from the American Revised Version. Omitting questions, and disregarding sometimes the capital at the beginning and the period at the close of an answer, the text may be read continuously. In notes and comments both versions are used without designation.]
1. What occurred in the spiritual realms?
And there was war in heaven.
2. Who constituted the forces at war?
Michael and His angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his angels.
3. What was the result to the dragon and his forces?
And they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven.
4. What followed the dragon's defeat?
And the great dragon was cast down.
5. Who is this dragon?
The old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan.
6. By what other term is he designated?
The deceiver of the whole world.
7. Where were the devil and his angels cast?
He was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.
Note and Comment
1. WAR IN HEAVEN.—In the spiritual realm. Not a war with swords and staves or bows and arrows, not a conflict with big guns and battle-ships; but a greater war of principles good and evil, mightier in results than any of the wars of earth. It was a warfare upon which he enters ever who enlists for the right. If he conquers, he may not do so on the principle that might is right, but that right is might. He may not measure success by the world's measure; greater is he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city, let it be Babylon, or Nineveh, or Rome, or Jerusalem. On these great principles was fought out the war in heaven when sin first entered. On that same great battle-field, in which was involved the fate of the universe, that war was continued.
2. MICHAEL means "Who is like God." He is the Archangel, who has power over death. Jude 9; 1 Thess. 4: 16. But it is the voice of the Son of God that raises the dead. John 5: 28, 29. He is "the great Prince," the angel told the prophet, "who standeth for the children of thy people." Dan. 12: 1. There is but one Archangel, or Chief Angel. The Scriptures never speak of archangels in the plural. The Archangel is chief of all the angels of God. He is Jehovah of hosts, or armies, that Angel or Messenger of whom the great Jehovah said, "My name is in Him." Ex. 23: 21. HIS ANGELS are all the shining hosts of God's celestial armies.
THE DRAGON, we are told, is "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan." The serpent carries us back to the tempter in Eden. It also finds a place in many systems of idolatrous worship from Babylon down. "At the time this divine description is given, the term 'dragon' had no such meaning [as a fabulous creature equipped with wings], among profane or sacred writers. 'The dragon of the Greeks,' says Pausanius, 'was only a large snake.'"—Hislop. It was connected with fire-worship, the symbol on earth of the sun; hence, the RED dragon. The primitive name of the sun was "Shemesh," from which comes "Beth-shemesh," the "house of the sun." The meaning of "Shemesh" is "servant"; so the sun was God's servant. But the apostates from God called the sun-god Baal, or Lord, and worshiped it as such. Associated with him in fire-worship was the tempter of mankind, the serpent. The "fiery serpent" is celebrated in pagan poetry and legend. See Hislop's "Two Babylons" on "The Great Red Dragon," in which he identifies the dragon as the symbol of sun-worship and fire-worship, as also the symbol of Nimrod, deified as the god of fire.
HIS ANGELS, the angels, or messengers, of the devil. See Matt. 25: 41. Those carried away by his defection in heaven. WARRED.—Milton has pictured this war as physical. Mortals can get concrete ideas of it perhaps in no other way, save in that experience of wrestling "not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places," wrestlings that are mightier, agonies which are greater, pains more poignant, than mere physical combatants ever knew. Such was the agony of Gethsemane.
When in that far beginning the Son of God, the Creator, gave Himself for man, His first step in that all-comprehensive sacrifice was to become an angel, a messenger, of God, a servant to do His bidding. His was the chiefest service, and hence He became the chief or arch angel, for greatness in the spiritual realm is measured by devotion, unselfishness, fealty. The Son of God gave all, and from that time till His death upon the cross every step was the demonstration of the purpose and will in the gift. In all this He represented God. He must show to angels as to men that God loved them, because God is love. And therefore we know that a long part of that early struggle with Lucifer and his angels was to induce them to yield to the divine government, to the loving will of God. The great offering of Christ covered their sins. The mighty Sacrifice comprehended all; and its far-reaching results will fill every void in God's universe which sin has made. Eph. 4: 9, 10. We know not how many angels even were saved from apostasy and destruction. This we do know—that among them, as among men, He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.
Lucifer was "called the Devil," "Diabolus," the accuser. Thus he began his work of accusing God of injustice, of arbitrary government, of partiality in its administration. He came to this world, fair from the hand of God, and accused God before our first parents. God was neither good nor just. He was keeping back from man that which would be for man's good. In his insinuating, beguiling way spoke the serpent, "Ah, what hath God said?" (Spurrell.) As Boothroyd renders, "Hath God indeed said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" Has He placed so unreasonable a restriction upon you? And when the woman told him the penalty of transgression, he generously told her, "Assuredly ye shall not die." God is keeping you from knowledge and exaltation. And so he accused God, and deceived the woman, became man's lord and master, and the prince of the world de facto. As the prince of this world he meets in the divine councils with the sons of God from other worlds. Job 1: 6-12. And there, to deceive7the rulers of other worlds, he accuses God of partiality to Job, and Job, God's servant, of selfish motives in serving his Master. One other instance is given in Zech. 3: 1-5, where Satan accuses God's high priest because of the sins of his people resting upon him. But the adversary is rebuked by Michael, "the Angel of Jehovah," in the name of the Father. The Son of God was in His humiliation in the crucible, under testing, demonstrating in character the goodness and truth and love of God. This is more emphatically presented in Jude 9: "But Michael the Archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee." Our Surety had not as yet borne the test, but He had never lost the victory.
The next step in the struggle was to become man, "becoming in the likeness of men" (see Phil. 2: 5-8, A.R.V., margin), and then humbling Himself to the death of the cross. The original purpose of giving Himself was completely met. "He emptied Himself," poured out His soul even unto death. Deity could do no more to demonstrate His love. In all our Lord's ministry the mighty conflict went on, from the Temptation on the mount to the Transfiguration on the mount; from the Transfiguration to the Garden of Gethsemane; from the Garden to the Cross of Calvary. Ever He met the tempter by the Word, "It is written," "It is written." Thus He demonstrated God's mighty power to save from the greatest trouble and danger and peril and foe, thus He proved the falsity of Satan's ages-old accusations, and thus He vindicated God's dealings with man in Eden.
3. THEIR PLACE.—Until that mighty demonstration of God's justice and wisdom and love, even the angels of God were on probation, perplexed over Satan's charges, yet loyal to the Master. They did not, could not understand what it all meant. Until the great question was settled, God in some way held the place of those fallen angels vacant. But when the vindictive hate of the devil and his demons compassed the death of Incarnate Love, they had passed that line on the thither side of which there is no hope, because there is no repentance. Thank God that in it all the spirits of blackness "prevailed not." Expediency was not victorious over duty, principle was not subservient to policy; right was demonstrated to be eternal might.
4. CAST DOWN.—The character of Lucifer was shown to be all that Christ's character was not. Angels of God saw it. To all the circling worlds of God's universe flashed the news. The de facto, usurping prince of this world was revealed in his true character and defeated forever by Redeeming Love. No longer could the accuser enter the councils of God.
5. THE OLD SERPENT is he of Eden. THE DEVIL is Diabolus, the accuser. And this is the meaning of the dragon. The symbol may have a secondary symbolism, but Inspiration reveals its meaning here. The dragon is the devil.
6. THE DECEIVER.—Never does he work in the full, open light. It is deception always on the one side or the other. Even tho he persecutes God's children openly, he makes his agents believe that they are doing God's will and saving their own souls in the persecutions they carry on at his bidding. He "fashioneth himself into an angel of light," and his ministers "fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness." 2 Cor. 11: 14, 15. By every seductive art of deception he lures men to opposition to God, to enmity to truth, to destruction. The one test of genuineness is the law of God, the Word of His Gospel. Let the world go if it will; stand with the Victorious One. Be not deceived.
7. TO THE EARTH. Previous to our Lord's first advent the warfare waged by Satan was in the high superhuman world, among spirits; but when Christ conquered he was cast down, and this little old earth becomes the battleground of eternal principles. Here has been fought out the crisis of the universe, and here have been and are being determined the destinies of millions. The devil is not dead; he is here with all his messengers of evil, demons of deception and duplicity, high and low; but there is for our rescue, our stay, our eternal refuge, our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal victor. Of Him shall we study in our next.
7. And there was war in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8. And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Jesus Alone with Satan
By C. L. Young
We read that after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus, and the full evidence given of His mission and of His divine Sonship, the Saviour of men was immediately driven by the Spirit away from all that would sustain Him in His mission, out into the wilderness alone with the wild beasts. There was no voice to speak a word of assurance, no indication of the Father's favor or divine support as the startling questions arose. Nothing could be heard but the howling of wild beasts and the screech of the night birds of prey. He was seemingly excluded from the plan of salvation. As He fasted and prayed, no light came to Him, but day by day deeper and deeper darkness wrapped itself about Him. The Saviour was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, and for forty days and nights He was left alone with the tempter.
Then Satan, the prince of darkness, began his subverting work by adding his strange influence adversely to the former testimony at the baptism. But He who was chosen as the chief Corner-stone must be proved and tried, to be one upon whom we might build and confide. Character is developed through trials. Strength and confidence come to us in overcoming; so God tries His chosen ones. Abraham was tried, Moses and Elijah were tried, Job was tried, and the Son of Man was not exempt from the test of the law of God. He was tempted in all points like as we are.
Unlike John the Baptist, Jesus was not accustomed to the hardships of the wilderness. He had grown up amid home duties and innocent pleasures, and the privations would be harder for Him to bear. Mark and Luke suggest that there were temptations during the whole of the forty days. The trials were not the arrangement of Jesus or of Satan, but of the Spirit. The temptations were of the devil. God permits temptations, that our faith may be tried, and to make us overcomers of evil, and not to yield or fall a prey to them.
Meditate upon the scene,—the holy One of God, sinless, now tried for the plan of salvation of our souls, and the experience of God's grace is not set aside.
We must be tried as He was, tho not above that which we are able to bear. Life does not consist in what we possess or profess, but in trusting every word of God. Angels can not minister to us if we are not in the line of duty. The kingdom and crown are won only in serving God. "It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve."
C. L. YOUNG.
Bloomington, Indiana.
"Western Watchman" on Haeckel
By Editor
HAECKEL is as much discredited as a scientist as he is as a theologian. Since he admitted over two years ago that he had forged cuts "to fill up gaps in his theory of the evolution of man from the lower animals," claiming that all scientists did it, he has been held up to scorn by the press and savants of Germany. We have often asked the question, When did a university professor ever make a scientific discovery? They are all plodders par excellence.
Sorrows Humanize the Heart
By Llewellyn A. Morrison
By Llewellyn A. Morrison
Sorrows humanize the heart,
Make it true and tender;
Vibrant tones of trust impart
In the will's surrender.
Tear-drops cleanse and purify
All the spirit's vision;
Darkness turns the face on high,
Unto realms elysian.
Burdens borne for love's dear sake
Bear all blooms within them;
Cruel cross and martyr stake
Crown the ones who win them.
We enrich the truth we find
As we freely use it
In the kindness of the mind;
But withholding — lose it.
They are poor who never give
Of their trove or treasure;
Poor at heart who basely live
But for self and pleasure.
He who hoardeth all below,
Loseth all at even;
He who doth his best bestow
Findeth it in heaven.
Each who greeteth bane and blight
As of Virtue's sending,
Passeth into joy and light
At the journey's ending.
Underneath — the stormy mere
Where the chill entwineth;
Overhead — the pathway clear
Where the glory shineth.
An Untamable Thing
By W. A. Colcord
The inability of man successfully to domesticate and tame certain wild animals is well known. All are familiar with the story of the man who had a pet tiger, which, after licking his hand one day till it tasted blood, seized the man's arm, and was prevented from taking his life only by a timely shot from his pistol.
The truth of this was again confirmed by an incident that occurred not long ago in New York City. A cub tiger caught by a sea-captain, had been given to a man in whose home it was treated as a pet. It seeming so gentle, the man felt no hesitancy in letting his little ones play with it and make a pet of it. Later, however, as the animal grew larger, it became sulky and restive, and the man was thinking of giving it to the Zoo. Still he did not chain it up, tho he warned the children against playing too roughly with it.
One day while sitting in his parlor, he heard his six-year-old daughter screaming in the kitchen. Hastening thither he found her cowering in a corner before the young tigress. The animal had suddenly become ferocious and turned on the little daughter. The angry beast crouched before her, with its lips drawn back over its fangs, its tail swishing, its claws protruding, while it snarled menacingly.
The man was unarmed; but as the animal seemed about to spring upon the girl, he sprang forward and kicked it in the head. The blow knocked the beast over; but it was on its feet like a flash, and crouched, lashing its tail in fury. Again the man kicked the tigress, and as it toppled over he kept up his attack, shouting to his daughter to run. The child obeyed; and as the cub staggered to its feet, still bent on fight, the man decided to despatch it at once by asphyxiation in the gas-range.
Herein lies a lesson on that evil and untamable thing called an ecclesiastical establishment, or a union of Church and State. Like the pet tiger, at first it may seem innocent and harmless, and many may be inclined to pet, favor, and fondle it; but sooner or later its true character is revealed, and instead of a friend, men discover that they have been petting and fostering a cruel, despotic, and deadly foe. The tiger, they find, is a tiger still. The first taste of persecution or thrill of power only whets its appetite for more.
"Intolerance," says Dean H. H. Milman, "seems inherent in the religious spirit when armed with authority." "The separation of the ecclesiastical and the civil powers," he adds, "appears to be the only means of at once maintaining religion and tolerance!"
Ecclesiastical despotism is an untamable thing. The union of religion and the State is a deadly foe. It means bondage, oppression, and ruin. Adopting the words of Alexander Campbell regarding the Papacy, the most striking example of a union of Church and State the world has ever witnessed, it may be described as "naturally, essentially, and necessarily, despotic, cruel, and implacable. It constitutionally claims a sovereignty over not only the secular sword, but over everything on earth,—thought, language, action, spirit, soul, body, and estate. It regards itself as the heir of all earthly things, and by a right divine and irrevocable, the only earthly king of kings and lord of lords. Its motto is, 'The empire of the globe or nothing.' The law of gravity will cease to act sooner than this superstition sleep on this side of absolute dominion. It can not be the guest of any land. It must be the host."
The tiger is always a tiger in jungle or town. Shall the law restrict him or set him free?
Wise would the American people be if they guarded sedulously against this terrible evil. Its encroachments are already seen in affairs of State and the insistent demands for Sunday legislation. Speaking of this, another has well said: "The Sunday movement is now making its way in darkness. The leaders are concealing the true issue, and many who unite in the movement do not themselves see whither the undercurrent is tending. Its professions are mild, and apparently Christian; but when it shall speak, it will reveal the spirit of the dragon." To many the disillusionment of this thing will come too late.
Any church that seeks to control politics, is to that extent political; and any church that seeks to control politics in the interests of the church, is not only political, but is an exponent of a union of Church and State, and thus an enemy of freedom of conscience, the rights of men, pure religion, and good government, and should be treated as such, regardless of its name or profession. And any minister who intermeddles in politics, or who seeks to secure religious legislation, should be rebuked as Washington rebuked a Methodist preacher in his time, who, by incautiously meddling with civil affairs, incurred the displeasure of those in authority.
Being asked by Washington who he was, Mr. Martin Rodda, the man in question, said that he was one of John Wesley's preachers. "Mr. Wesley," rejoined Washington, "I respect; but Mr. Wesley, I presume, never sent you to America to interfere with political matters, but to preach the Gospel to the people. Now go and mind your own proper work, and leave politics alone."
And while, in harmony with the Constitution, no religious test should ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the Government of the United States, the separation of Church and State being an express provision of the Constitution, and thus a fundamental principle of the Government, it would be perfectly proper, and the question would be entirely relevant, to ask every candidate for office or public trust under it, where he stands on this question. No man who believes in or advocates such a union, is a proper candidate for such office or trust, nor can he consistently take oath to support the Constitution.
Every concession to ecclesiastical domination here, every law passed for the compulsory observation of Sunday, means a departure from those grand principles upon which this Government was founded, and a lapse backward into the old order of savagery in government and religion. And, standing as she has for over a century as a beacon light of liberty to all the world, the downfall of the principles of religious liberty in America will mean their downfall the world over. Against such a catastrophe every lover of liberty ought by pen and voice to wage eternal warfare.
The Purpose of the Bible
By G. H. Ferris, D.D.
THE Bible was given me by God to shed light on the purity and vileness of my soul; to brace my will in the hour of temptation; to elevate my thoughts amid the strife for bread; to lift my drowsy eyes to the sunlit summits of faith and prayer; and to send a thrill of divine aspiration through a life that is ever becoming stupefied amid the murky damps of life's low levels.
If I seek for a spirit of uncompromising and ringing righteousness, that shall keep me from making a truce with wrong, I find it on the pages of Jeremiah. If I look for a valuation of life that puts first things first, I follow Paul over mountains and seas, and hear him say, "Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy." If I look for a pattern of a life truly divine, and wish to see what God would do if He were a man like me, I walk with Christ around the Sea of Galilee. Indeed, it is in the light of His character, that I interpret the whole Book.—G. H. Ferris, D.D.
Every-Day Greatness
"HE who walks through life with an even temper, and a gentle patience — patient with himself, patient with others, patient with difficulties and crosses — has an every-day greatness beyond that which is won in battle or chanted in cathedrals."
"Never Trespassed Against"
ONE who sees his own sin as Christ sees it has little room left in his heart for any thought of his own "rights." As we increasingly recognize the awfulness of the wounds we have inflicted by our sin in the body of Christ, we shall be less and less able to think about or even to recognize any injury as done by others to us. A man who had sinned and had been forgiven by the Father was praying in grateful penitence the Lord's Prayer. When he came to the petition, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us," he cried out in the protest of his whole being, "No one has ever trespassed against me." Nor had any one, as that man had trespassed against God. The worst injuries done us by others are so infinitesimal as compared with the injuries we do God that we may well deny their existence altogether. Any comparison between the two throws the wrongs done us so hopelessly beneath reckoning that we can safely leave them out of account altogether.
"I have nothing to forgive," said one friend to another when asked for forgiveness for an injury done by the latter. That is forgiveness; the forgiveness that ignores, forgets, denies the very existence of an injury to self. And it is easy so to forgive when we are looking into the face of the forgiving Christ whom we have crucified.—S. S. Times.
The Home Life
By Presbyterian Banner
The Scriptures of the Jewish dispensation very clearly direct our minds to the home as the basis or fountain of that life fashioned and developed in the image of God. Tainted or corrupted at the base, there is little indication of hope in the future. And our Lord did not fail to lay great stress on the reception and indoctrination of the child. The thought followed to its logical conclusion is a potent suggestion that the Bible and an altar in every home will prove an invincible fortification against the influences of evil, and provide a basis for development of character that no subsequent display of "world-wide movement" on the part of man can effect or offer.
Our Bible Reading
The Immutable Law
1. What is said of the perfection of God's law?
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Ps. 19: 7.
NOTE.—God's law is said to be "perfect," and we should expect that anything coming from the hand of the Infinite One would be absolutely complete. Then where is the possibility for any need of any change in that law? In view of the character of the Author of the law of God, it must be in its very nature immutable, or not subject to change.
2. Is the Lord Himself given to constant change, or is what He does always right from the start, and therefore immutable?
I, Jehovah, change not. Mal. 3: 6, A.R.V.
3. Since He is thus unchangeable, what does He say of the law that He has given?
The works of His hands are truth and justice; all His precepts are sure. They are established forever and ever; they are done in truth and uprightness. Ps. 111: 7, 8, A.R.V.
NOTE.—Observe that the works of His hands are "truth and justice." His precepts are sure, and stand forever and ever, because they are done in truth and uprightness. What folly it is for men to say, in the face of such statements from the Word of God, that the law of the Lord, like the laws of fallible men, is mutable, imperfect, and therefore would have to be changed! God is infinitely perfect, and therefore everything that comes from His hand is perfect, and needs never to be changed as long as eternity lasts.
4. What does Christ say about the unchangeableness of His Father's law?
Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished. Matt. 5: 17, 18, A.R.V.
5. What is the evident meaning of the word "fulfil" when spoken of moral obligation?
If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well. James 2: 8. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Gal. 6: 2.
NOTE.—To fulfil the royal law means to love our neighbor as ourselves. It means the doing of the law of God, not the abolishing of it. To fulfil the law of Christ means to sympathize with our brother, to bear his burden with him. In this way the law of Christ is brought nearer and more sacred to us, instead of being abolished. And hence when the Master said, as recorded above by Matthew, that He came to fulfil the law, it is equivalent to saying He came to obey the law. And not a jot, the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet, nor a tittle, the little ornamental and distinguishing corner of a letter, is to pass from the law. No chance here for mutability or change!
6. With what affectionate regard does the psalmist say the Messiah would hold the law of God when He should come?
Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; Mine ears hast Thou opened; burnt offering and sin-offering hast Thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart. Ps. 40: 6-8.
NOTE.—Observe closely that it is said that the law is within the heart of the One that comes to set aside the sacrifices and offerings of the old dispensation by the offering of Himself.
7. May we be sure that the text quoted above from the Fortieth Psalm refers to Christ?
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me,) to do Thy will, O God.
Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin Thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first [the sacrifices and offerings], that He may establish the second [the will of God, which is the law of God]. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. Heb. 10: 4-12.
NOTE.—It is perfectly apparent that the apostle is quoting in the foregoing the verses from the Fortieth Psalm, given already in this reading. It is equally as clear that He makes the verses to apply to our great High Priest, Christ Jesus, who offered Himself as the one sacrifice that renders all other sin-offerings obsolete. And the verses in this Fortieth Psalm from which the quotation is taken make it unmistakably clear that the law of the Father was enshrined in the Saviour's heart when He came to give Himself an offering for sin. Should we not, then, tenderly respect a document that was so dear to the heart of the Master?
8. May we not conclude, then, that obedience to this law is a necessary qualification to entering the kingdom of heaven?
Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will [keepeth the law] of My Father which is in heaven. Matt. 7: 21.
