1 PETER
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
To Whom Peter Wrote
In regard to those to whom Peter wrote, we remark that they were Hebrews residing in certain provinces of Anatolia, and therefore styled,
"chosen sojourners of a dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia."
They were Jews residing in these countries, who had been ecclesiastically separated from their countrymen by a separation, or sanctification (which is the same thing) of spirit—εν αριασμω πνRνματοζ.
Many of them had, doubtless, heard Peter on the Day of Pentecost, when the Spirit descended upon the Apostleship of the Circumcision so copiously and visibly. We have reason to believe this, because Luke, in Acts 2:9, says, that there were Jews in Jerusalem who witnessed the outpouring of spirit and power, "from Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia."
Peter and the rest of the apostles, filled with spirit, spoke to them of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and urged them to save themselves from the last. The result of this Spirit-manifestation in word and gifts, was the separation of them from the sacrificial worship of the temple, ειζ νπακοην, into a submissive hearkening to, or "obedience;" and unto "a sprinkling of Jesus Christ's blood," in their doing what is prescribed in Acts 2:38,
—"Be ye mentally changed; and let every one of you be baptized to (επι, in the sense of being added to) the name of the Anointed Jesus into remission of sins."
This was the "separation of spirit" they were the subject of. The spirit-discourse which issued from Peter's mouth, opened the eyes of their understandings; dispelled the darkness which overshadowed them; and disposed them to childlike submission to "the law of faith," expressed in the words before us.
This work of spirit was evinced in what followed; for they that gladly received the word were baptized, verse 41. They were baptized "unto the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit;" and so were added to the name of the Anointed Jesus; by which addition they henceforth constituted a part of that name, or of the "One Body—one" in God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ; "one as the Father and Jesus are."—John 17:11.
Having thus become Jews in Christ, or "Israelites indeed", they did not therefore lose all interest in their nation and country. When they returned to Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, they would diffuse the knowledge they had acquired among the Jews who had not gone up to Jerusalem to keep the feast of Pentecost; and in doing so, would tell them of the vengeance that was impending over the Commonwealth of Judah.
Though they had ceased from offering sacrifices for themselves, they would still go to Jerusalem to celebrate the national festivals of Pentecost and Tabernacles—Acts 20:16. Being now in Christ, their Passover and Sin-covering, they did not keep the Mosaic Passover and Atonement (verse 5); nevertheless, they were Jewish patriots, and loved their country; and desired its prosperity as their own good.
Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jun 1859
2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
Elect
God elects saints for His kingdom, not by foregone conclusions which are irreversible; but men are "elect through sanctification of spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 1:2). This reveals to us the means, and design of the election in relation to the present time. "Sanctification of spirit" is the means; "obedience and sprinkling of Christ's blood," the end.
How this is brought about is explained in these words -- "Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit" (1 Pet. 1:22). The manner in which men are brought to obedience, and purification by the sprinkled blood, through the spirit, is practically explained in the use of the keys by Peter on the day of Pentecost, and at the house of Cornelius.
The spirit through the apostle, "convinced men of sin, and righteousness, and judgment to come;" and confirmed his words by the signs which accompanied them. They believed and obeyed the truth; and "in obeying it" were purified from all past sins by faith in the blood of sprinkling. Thus, they were "washed, sanctified, and justified by the name of the Lord, and by the spirit of God;" and after this manner elected according to His foreknowledge and predetermination.
No man need flatter himself that he is one of God's elect, unless he believes the gospel of the kingdom and obeys it, and walks in the steps of the faith of Abraham. A man then knows, and feels, that he is elected; because God hath said, "He that believes the gospel, and is baptised, shall be saved."
Sometimes in reproof, sometimes in comfort: thus the Spirit speaks as need requires. Here, it is the voice of comfort; the voice of the shepherd, Peter, as he executes the commission assigned to him in the parting words of the Chief Shepherd: "Feed My lambs."
It is pleasant to hear such a voice. We need comfort. We are in a world of evil, in which are many hindrances. The Father is little thought of; the Son largely forgotten; and the children (such few as there are) despised. This makes the situation bleak enough for the lambs; but there are other trials; false brethren, wolves in sheep's clothing, biting - winds of doctrine," and poor weak failings in all of us that make us self chidden and condemned. We need to be comforted, and the Lord commands it for such as are broken and contrite in heart, trembling at His word.
Peter addresses himself to "the strangers scattered." In Peter's day, they were scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, etc. To-day they are scattered throughout England, Wales, Scotland, America, Australia, etc.; and though differently situated in many respects, their spiritual needs are the same. They are strangers and not strangers. The truth has made them at home where they were strange, and strange where they were at home.
They are no longer strangers and foreigners to the commonwealth of Israel with its all glorious covenants of promise, with which in the days of their darkness they had no connection. They have received the adoption of sons, and rejoice in being fellow-citizens with the Lord Jesus, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets and saints of that splendid polity that will one day fill the world with light, and life, and love, and joy, and glory to God in the highest; in this, they are at home where they were strange. But this has more of the future than the present in it. We rejoice in the hope it is true; but we walk by faith and not by sight, and this is burdensome to the natural man.
In the things that are seen, we have been turned just the other way about. We once belonged to the world, and the world loved its own, and we were at home in it, but now we are strangers and sojourners, as all the fathers were. We look not at the things which are seen. We await the day of the manifestation of the sons of God.
In this attitude we need the exhortation of this chapter:
"Gird up the loins of your mind; be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Without the continual girding of the loins of the mind (in the continual adjustment of our mental relation to the things that are and shall be, in the unfailing study of the holy oracles) we shall grow weary and faint in our minds, and hope will die instead of continuing, and we ourselves become cast away on the great ocean.
We must train ourselves to accept the position of strangers and sojourners. "If ye call on the Father," says Peter: that is if ye really mean to be children of the Father, who, I without respect of persons, judgeth according to every man's work, "pass the time of your sojourning here in fear." Our salvation is not otherwise to be wrought out than in fear and trembling. There is no time for pleasure hunting. The service of Christ is now, as it always has been, a course of self-denial.
Bro Roberts - The Christadelphian, Sept 1888
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
Trial of Your Faith
"I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts."
This searching is adapted to the necessities of each case. That which is a trial to one is not always a trial to another. It is no hardship for a man indifferent to wealth to be deprived of it; nor for one devoid of parental love to lose his offspring. It requires no great effort for a man with little self-esteem to refrain from walking in pride's silly ways; nor for one who has large benevolence and small acquisitiveness to dispense alms. Whom havin
Divine tests call for sacrifices, for endurance, and for resistance. A saint's first duty is obedience, and should it entail the loss of things near and dear, it must be borne with resignation. Let us not measure our own trials by the experience of others, nor vice versa. Do not let us trouble ourselves with the apparent freedom from trial of others. In so doing, we may misjudge.g not seen, ye love; in
It is a conceit of human nature to think it knows better than the Deity—it was so with Job's Satan. Everyone is put to the proof in the best and most effectual way, and this way is known only to God.
Bro AT Jannaway
The Christadelphian, March 1887. p104
10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
The simple truth is that the prophets were men by whom God spoke. Their words were not their own words. What they said, they said under the power of an impulse extraneous to their own faculties—which explains a good deal. Among other things, it explains why they did not always understand what the Spirit uttered through them...
...The only key to the scripture of Moses and the prophets is their own truthfulness.
... God wrought with Moses, spoke by the prophets, and impelled them to commit to writing some portion of His word by them.
The Christadelphian, June 1898
11 Searching what, 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.
Did Christ Have a Beginning?
The man Christ Jesus had a beginning: the power of which he was the manifestation, by the Spirit operating on Mary, never had a beginning.
And because it is impossible, in this case, to distinguish between the living medium of manifestation and the power manifested, there is a possibility of the matter appearing at different times in apparently contradictory shapes.
The Spirit, in the prophets, is recognised as the Spirit of Christ (1 Peter 1:11), ages before the individual Christ appeared.
In this sense, the children of Israel in tempting Moses, the greatest of the prophets in a sense, are said to have tempted Christ.—(1 Cor. 10: 9.)
This is intelligible when the indissoluble connection between Jesus and the Spirit is recognised, and surely we require no greater visibility of this connection than is apparent in the following from his lips:
"These things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive.. . He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the ecclesias."—(Rev. 2:8, 11.)
The putter of the question would have preferred a "yes" or a "no," but it is just one of those questions that cannot be fully answered by either. The "yes" has to be qualified, and the "no" has to be qualified.
This may be unsatisfactory to those who wish the answer for captious purposes; but to those who wish for the truth only, all the qualifications it enforces are welcome. By "rightly dividing the word of truth," we arrive at the wisdom that will guide to life eternal: but there be such as wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction.
The Christadelphian, Feb 1872
Is it not manifest from this testimony that the terms in which the spirit expressed the time of the suffering, and the time of the after glory, were enigmatical? The prophets saw the mystery, and diligently laboured to unfold it. It is not affirmed of them as it may truthfully be of certain of their modern students,
"Let us not bother ourselves concerning the times. Let us rather strive to develop that character well pleasing in the sight of God."
This does not sound amiss as a general exhortation, till it comes to be asked what constitutes the character with which God is well pleased? Is it reasonable to imagine that God can be pleased with those who themselves neglect, and who exhort others to do likewise—to apply their hearts to understand all the things written beforetime for their learning?
The times cannot be regarded of minor importance. In this respect they are only second to the events. And where would the events be without the times? That man's organization must be very peculiar who can feel a most lively interest in the events, and be so far indifferent to the times, as to exhort his brethren "not to bother themselves about them."
Brethren who are anxiously waiting the Lord's return, can hardly be edified with hortatory advice of this kind. And let me remark, en passant, that brethren will do well to let their affections follow, and not precede their judgment. "Hold fast the form of sound words." This is an exhortation which implies attachment between the holders and speakers on account of the "words" spoken.
To the Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus said,
"O ye hypocrites! ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
This teaches plainly enough that certain "signs" have been by Yahweh allotted to certain "times." In the divine arrangements there is a time fixed.
"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."—(Ecc. iii, 1.)
"And a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment."—(chap. viii, 5.)
Without a knowledge of the times, the signs cannot be understood, for they are "the signs of the times" to which they have been appointed. No doubt this plan has been adopted to enable "the wise" to "understand" the sign-periods, or to "discern both time and judgment." This is perfectly rational. But any pretension of a desire to understand the prophetic oracles, with an aversion to take the times into consideration, seems unreasonable at first sight; and upon mature study, cannot fail of being rejected altogether. Z
The Ambassador of the Coming Age, Aug 1867. p196,197.
12 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 spirit sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
The Revealed Mystery
The gospel invites men to enter into the kingdom of God. The way of entering is made exceedingly plain in the Bible. There is now no hidden mystery concerning it as there was before the sufferings of Christ were manifested. The mystery of the kingdom has been unlocked. The key of knowledge has been given, but unfortunately it has been stolen again by Peter's pretended successors, and by every other ecclesiastic upon a smaller scale who would discourage or throw hindrances in the way of a free, unbiased and independent examination and avowal of Bible truth in their churches, or an unrestricted advocacy of it, though at variance with the institutes of dogmatic theology, in all the pulpits of the land.
The leaders of the people dare not permit such a course to be pursued; for the Bible is hostile to their systems, and sets forth things, which, if believed, would empty their rostrums, disperse their flocks, and close their doors, and elaborate such a social revolution, that truth and righteousness would triumph amidst the earth, and the people be enlightened in the knowledge which comes from God.
Such a consummation, however, need never be hoped for, so long as the instruction and government of the nations are in the hands of the existing orders of rulers, lay and ecclesiastical; for "like priests like people," and vice versa; they are corrupt and altogether gone out of the way; and, therefore, are devoid of all power to resuscitate the things which remain, and which are ready to vanish away.
Before a man can enter into the kingdom of God, he must be unloosed from his sins in the present state, and liberated here after from the prison-house where the dead lie bound in chains of intense darkness. The unloosing from sins, Jesus committed to Peter; but the enlargement from the chamber of death, He reserved to Himself (Rev. 1:18; 20:1).
Knowledge is the key to remission, or release from sins, and to an entrance into the kingdom of God. No one can enter this kingdom in his sins, and destitute of a character approved of God; and none could answer the question, "how can a man obtain the remission of sins, and what kind of character would God account worthy?" -- until the apostle revealed the secret, communicated to him by the Spirit, on the day of Pentecost.
If the reader peruse the second chapter of the Acts he will there learn how Peter used one of the keys of the kingdom given to him by its King. On that occasion, I say, he used but one of the keys. He revealed the mystery of the gospel of God's kingdom to the Jews only. They believed in the kingdom, glory, and dominion, promised to the Son of Man in Daniel and the prophets; they were well aware that the kingdom was to belong to their nation, that the King was to be David's Son, and to live for ever, and the righteous were to take the kingdom with Him: these things were the substance of the national hope; but they did not then know upon what conditions the obtaining of them was predicated.
Hence, it was Peter's duty to instruct them. He first called their recollection to certain notable things concerning Jesus -- that the wonders He performed by the power of God evidently showed that God approved Him; that they had been guilty of His death in clamoring for His crucifixion, but that all this was predetermined of God; that God had "loosed Him from the pains of death" by raising Him from the dead. He then proceeded to show by their prophets that the things which had thus happened to Jesus were verifications of certain predictions.
He adduced the testimony of David, that the Christ was to be "raised up to sit upon David's throne," and consequently, must previously suffer death; and that after He was resurrected, he was to ascend to the right hand of God. He then concluded by saying, "let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and King Anointed (CHRISTOS)." For the truth of this statement he appealed to what they saw and heard, to the cloven tongues like fire sitting upon their heads, the "sound of a rushing mighty wind," and the many languages spoken by Galilean fishermen without previous study.
The result of the apostle's reasoning was their conviction that Jesus was indeed the King of Israel, even the Shiloh that had been promised them for so many ages. They acknowledged Him to be the "Son whose NAME should be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Founder of the Future Age, the Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).
Elpis Israel 2.1.
Which things the angels desire to look into
The mystery of the kingdom, then, has been made known and we find that it had relation to the sufferings of the Christ; and repentance, remission of sins, and eternal life in His name, to Jews first and afterwards to the Gentiles. The prophets who foretold these things, were not able to penetrate the mystery of them; and the angels themselves, who brought the word to them, desired to understand them. But this was not permitted; and and it was preserved as a secret until after the sufferings of Christ, which were to be the foundation of the manifestation.
When the "point of time" drew nigh for
"the finishing of the transgression, the making an end of sin-offerings, the making reconciliation for iniquity, and the bringing in of everlasting righteousness" (Dan. 9:24),
Jesus, who had been anointed the Most Holy, the sealed prophet of the Father, and fully confirmed as Messiah the Prince, selected one man of the twelve (who had least reason to exalt himself above his brethren as " the prince of the apostles," ) as the depository of the keys of the mysteries of the kingdom of God.
Elpis Israel 2.1.
13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
...if we look at man as we know him. He is a bundle of powers, faculties, and capacities, among which there are such as are low, and such as are high. All his powers fulfil a good purpose in their right connections and subordinations; but some of them are manifestly fitted and intended to have the controlling place, while others put in this place are odious and destructive.
'...few include God in the practical objects of their exertion and concern. The consequence is that human nature scarcely anywhere attains the beauty of development of which it is capable. The upper brain is checked in its action and dwarfed in development by the universal manners, and consequently the vast mass of human beings on earth are but insipid specimens of a noble race, unhappy in themselves and possessing only the capacity of being a trial and a nuisance to others.
...The upper brain must have the education which by its nature it requires and demands, and no education short of the knowledge of God is suited to those requirements. The whole group of the moral powers (and they are the dominating powers in the human organisation), require God for their action.
Without action you cannot have development; and without development, man cannot rise to the standard of His being... 'veneration', and the capacity to worship and adore, and having its most natural action in the recognition of God...hope and faith, which unitedly give the capacity to realise the action of unseen power, and to base anticipation thereon... the impulse of benevolence. .. the staying power of firmness, flanked by conscientiousness which gives sensitiveness with regard to right and wrong. The whole group is of angelic tendency when allied with enlightened intellect in the front of the brain.
They require development like every other faculty or capacity in the human mind, and this development can only be attained by the education appropriate to their action...
Now, we live in a state of society where these powers are not provided for. Modern life and modern education address themselves almost wholly to the lower range of the brain faculties ...
There is little intellect, less mercy, and less expansive and noble godliness anywhere. It is as the Scriptures testify. They are all gone astray, every one to his own way, which is as far as possible from the way God designed them to walk in.
Bro Roberts - Without God, All is vanity and vexation of spirit.
15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
Here is one source of the affliction that belongs to the high calling to which men are called in Christ Jesus. Another is to be found in the aversions that the Truth creates towards those who obey the Truth. Ungodly men do most keenly resent the reflection implied in the separateness for Christ that the Truth imposes. "Come out from among them;" you could not hurt them more.
They "reproach you," as Jesus says, and "cast out your name as evil." What are we to do? If we are weak-eyed in the things of the Spirit, we shall fear men and try to propitiate them, and be neither one thing nor another.
This will be a mistake. You cannot propitiate them except by being out-and-out one of themselves. If you are this you cannot belong to Christ. If you are half-and-half, you please neither him nor them. It is best to be thorough, but with all courtesy. Even the enemies of Christ will respect you more if you are thorough than if you mince and trim and try to appear to belong to them when you don't.
Bro Roberts - All parts of the Truth necessary
It is not agreeable when everybody is busy and enthusiastic, to be looked down upon as a religion-warped lunatic, nursing utopian dreams, and letting the present substance slip.
It is not agreeable to be isolated in the corner, and considered as belonging to those whose society is to be avoided; yet the eye of faith, the mind of conviction, the soul that really and resolutely believes the gospel, will have no difficulty in "tiding" over the trial, and in keeping a tenacious hold of the invisible link of connection between a suffering and degraded present, and a glorious future—such a future as the world has no conception of and can never realise.
Bro Roberts - Sunday morning 12
17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come - Heb 13: 14
This attitude also is the attitude of pure reason. It is only the ignoring of facts that leads to any other. Men with a distinct sense of the ephemeral and fleeting nature of life as it now is would not set their affections upon it as they do.
Men with a strong faith in the life that is coming would not, and could not, devote themselves, as nearly all men do, to the present world. Most men lack this sense and this faith, and yet both are in harmony with indestructible facts. All realise it sooner or later. In the midst of their struggles and their successes, they are bound to feel sometime or other the unhappiness of having no goal beyond the horizon of present efforts.
... Who can deny the Holy land? Who can remove the name of Christ from the civilisation of the world? And what man of reason acquainted with these things can resist the conclusion they jointly yield, that there is a future for man and for the earth as much higher than the present as the present state is lower than that which wisdom and goodness desire?
It is, then, but the act of enlightened reason to accept the position which Christ occupied in the present world—that of a stranger—a pilgrim — one not settled to a policy rooted in the present—one whose life, whose aims, whose loves and aspirations are in the future.
Such a choice seems fanatical only to those who are unacquainted with its grounds. It is due to no natural moroseness. It is not the result of any tendency to asceticism. The sons of God are the most cheerful and sociable of men when the right conditions exist. If they "have here no continuing city," it is not because they are insensible to the attractions of polished life. It is precisely the reverse. It is because life in the world is not polished enough in the true sense that they
"love not the world neither the things that are in the world."
It lacks the true salt of life in lacking the manifested presence of God and any desire towards Him,—which are the root of all true well-being.
Sunday Morning 197 - The Christadelphian, May 1889
A christ[adelphian], rich in faith, and abounding in the good things of life, which he administers after a goodly sort, is one whose praise is in the mouth of all his brethren, and commands the respect and admiration, if not the love, of all who know him.
He has a good report with those who are without. He is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. He eschews the friendship of the world which is at enmity with God; knowing that "whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
The world is crucified to him, and he unto the world. He minds the things which are anew, not the things at present upon the earth; for he knows that the minding of these is death; and that they who are in the flesh, that is, who live after the flesh, cannot please God.
To "the poor in the world," then, who are "rich in faith," we may say, how thankful, brethren, ought we to be that we are not rich! Nor let any be envious against those that are; but rather commiserate their misfortune, and as much as possible strengthen them against the perils by which they are besieged.
Our heart aches for the rich professors of our day; for we perceive that very few of them, judging by the fruits of the tree, have faith enough to be saved. "The rich fade away in their ways." They value themselves upon what they possess, being, for the most part, full of goods, but empty of head and lean of soul.
But God esteems them no more than a beggar full of sores; for there is no respect of persons with him. Let us, then, imitate God; and
"hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus anointed of the glory, in respect to persons."
Let character and devotion to the truth, and active repudiation of all sympathy with the "Names of Blasphemy" around us, and not pelf and position, the admiration and idolatry of a vain and shallow world, be the conditions of our sympathy with persons. For ourselves, be they rich or poor, we desire co-operation and fellowship with such only.
"The truth as it is in Jesus," is the basis of our relations and intimacies with mankind; when this is repudiated or betrayed, or crucified, we consider ourselves as put to an open shame, and repudiated likewise. We have no use for those who cause the truth to be evil spoken of by their malpractice; and certain we are they can have no use for us.
If people who profess the truth dishonour that truth, they dishonour us; and we do not want, nor will we condescend to have, any co-operation with them, be they as rich as Croesus or as poor as Job. They are only stumbling blocks and hindrances in the way; and the truth can never progress in the halo of their obliquity.
Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Dec 1859
Folly Not for Saints
Can brethren consistently take part in the game of old soldier, or other games, in which there are forfeits, and the redemption of forfeits—one by being blind-folded and fed with water till she told who fed her; another by doing the Grecian statue; another, the old bachelor, &c.—T.W.P.
Answer.—Paul prohibited "foolish talking" as not convenient for saints (Eph. 5:4). Foolish acting is surely worse. None who recognise what is meant by
"living soberly and righteously and godly in this present world, looking for the blessed hope,"
could be induced to take part in such child's play. Our time is short: the days are evil; it is the part of the saints to
"pass the time of their sojourning here in fear," (1 Pet. 1:17),
remembering the words of Christ, that
"every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment."—(Matt. 12:36).
The Christadelphian, July 1873
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
This new man, or state of mind, is "inward." It exists in the mind in which it has been developed by the word, and it is in the experience of every son of God that this new man may grow stronger while the natural man is falling into decay.
The Christadelphian, March 1871
24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
How entirely the truth of this is realized in the experience both of ourselves and others. Human power fails: we feel how feeble we are in many ways, but more particularly in the direction of things that are good. How destitute the natural man is of spiritual resources! The outward man perisheth, and how entirely the renewing of the inward man from day to day is dependent upon the daily feeding on this word, as the newborn babe upon milk.
There is a certain consolation in these facts. The weakness of flesh and blood is a beneficial experience, in so far as it gives a right direction to our thoughts. We are brought to the point of abandoning confidence in ourselves, and leaning more and more on the strength derivable from the Rock of our salvation.
We recognize the inevitable, and give up the weary effort of trying to stand in the mire. We recognize that in ourselves there is no good thing, and that we must be content to hold on to the hope of the Gospel, and to rest in the Lord and wait patiently for the day of blessing.
While the curse prevails we cannot be free. We are free in our legal relations to God, but we still await the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. We carry the burden of a sin-cursed nature till we are released in the change to the incorruptible. When this is attained we shall know experimentally what is meant by the words,
"There shall be no more curse."
Till then we must be content with our share of that "groaning within ourselves, being burdened," which is part of our appointed probation. Even Paul felt the weight of it. Those feel it heaviest, in a spiritual sense, who have the keenest appreciation of the things of the Spirit, and it is these who rejoice the most at the prospect of the deliverance which will be theirs at the appointed time.
The hope of this deliverance stands on the same foundation as the stability of heaven and earth: "The word of the Lord endureth for ever." On this foundation we can rest in peace, even amidst all the tribulation which is our inevitable portion in the present evil world.
Bro Roberts - The word enduring forever, Seasons 1:41.
25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
It is a great revelation that all things exist in the will of God; that all things are but the concretion of His invisible energy according to His intention.
There is no room for accidental perdition or spontaneous dissolution here. Nothing can interfere with the foundation things have in the word of Yahweh. It is no inflated figure of speech that describes God as the Rock. Its perfect appropriateness is evident when we think of His Spirit as the medium and formative executor of His purposes, radiated by His volition from the presence of His eternal power and glory.
This is His word in its physical relations. There is rest for our feeble minds in the fact that His word is everlasting: that though the world passeth away, and human life as we know it at present is a fading flower,
"the purpose of the Lord standeth sure."
We have His word for it that heaven and earth are for ever: therefore, we are unaffected by the theories and thoughts that would make all things uncertain, and our lives as the mere bubbles on a restless ocean of everlasting change. We rest in the Lord, and have the comfort of hope and the quietness of assurance for ever.
We are tranquillized and made glad by the knowledge that the Eternal Father has a purpose involving the perpetual stability of the glorious place we inhabit, that in ages to come He will show us His kindness in Christ Jesus, when His Name shall have attained that exaltation among men which is the basis of all blessedness.
Bro Roberts - The word enduring forever, Seasons 1: 41.
Uncertainty is the most salient feature of the present age. It pertains to friends, means of subsistence, health, and, above all, to life itself. What a pleasing contrast to all this does the Bible form!
"The word of the Lord endureth for ever."
But even in this, men are endeavouring to shake our confidence. They would make it send forth a very uncertain sound; its history they would convert into fable; its miracles reduce to the level of everyday occurrences; its morality question; and its divinity overthrow by attributing to it bungles and blunders innumerable.
The book, however, remains unaffected—a certain guide and an invaluable friend. It cannot be rendered unintelligible by the cavilling, pedantry, and hypercriticism of sinful flesh; it cannot be biassed; its yeas are yeas and nays, nays. Unlike human friends, it is not fickle.
Act righteously and it will commend you; act wickedly and it will condemn you. Approach it rightly—honestly, considerately, and reverently—and it will bless you; approach it wrongly, and you will most certainly incur the vengeance of God, its author.
Bro AT Jannaway
The Christadelphian,Nov 1886