1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

...it is clear that the blood of dead animals, such as calves and goats, must be utterly worthless for anything else than a shift devised for the exigency of the case. They had no righteousness; therefore their sprinkled blood would constitute no one righteous: they had no life; therefore it could impart no title to eternal life: and not being human, they could not expiate humanity's offence, inasmuch as the wisdom of God determined that sin should be "condemned in the flesh," not representatively of animals only, but literally in that of man.

As it was not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins, and this being the blood of the Mosaic covenant, it was as impossible for that instrument to give the twelve tribes or a single faithful Israelite, even a title to inherit the land forever.

"The wages of sin is death;"

Hence sins untaken away, or transgressions unredeemed, leaves the transgressor under death's sentence. A man under sentence of death, is as good as dead; he is therefore styled "dead in trespasses and sins." This was the condition of the whole nation under the law. No man thereof could show his title to eternal life in Canaan, or elsewhere.

A faithful Israelite might hope that when Messiah came, he would not prove like Adam the first, but be obedient unto death; and by his shed blood, purge the Abrahamic covenant in which he believed, and by thus redeeming the transgressions committed by the faithful under the law, gave them justification unto life eternal, by which they would be enabled to possess the land forever.

No, the only title to the land the Mosaic law could give was conditional and limited to their mortal existence upon it.

...We see, then, the nature of the Mosaic law purged by inferior or unprecious blood. It could not give a title to eternal life, and was therefore incapable of imparting everlasting righteousness to any; and nothing short of an everlasting righteousness can constitute a man an heir of the kingdom of God in the covenanted land.

By obedience to this law no flesh can be justified, for by it comes the knowledge of sin, without the power of deliverance (Rom 3:20,28).

"It made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did." (Heb 7:19) .

The Mystery of the Covenant of the Holy Land Explained

[The children of Israel] were brought out of Egypt by Moses, and carried through the wilderness, where they received from God a law - a law which necessarily recognised that the human race was sinful - sinful at its foundation head, or rather after the partaking of the forbidden fruit, and sinful also in its perpetuation, in that all Adam's descendants were transgressors.*

God designed that law to fix this on the memory of the children of Israel, and thereby impress them with their dependence on Him in order that He might be recognised, and that they might not forget that forgiveness was to be obtained only in the way appointed by Him. The apostle styles that condition of things "a shadow." We all know what a shadow is; it has form, but no substance, and is therefore useful to present an idea of that which is substantial. So was the law.

It is accordingly spoken of by Paul in the second of Romans as "the 'form' of knowledge and of the truth," a definition which we should bear in mind when thinking upon the subject. Do we want to understand more fully the "good things" that God has given us in Christ? They are presented to us in a "shadow" in the Mosaic Law, and a study of that shadow will teach us more accurately the things in the New Testament concerning Christ. The "good things" which were to "come" find their substance in him. He is the Head, and it is in consequence of that substance having been given that we find ourselves in the position we occupy this morning.

While calling this to mind, we have to mourn the fact that those to whom the shadow was in the first place given do not appreciate the substance. With what perversity which characterised them from the beginning they adhere to that shadow which God has made void.

But the Gentiles who are so ready to condemn the Jews, are no better. Take, for example the Romish Church. It pretends to have Christ really present in the bread and wine, which it styles, "the Sacrifice of the Mass."

The Gentiles endeavour to transform a symbol into the reality, and the Jews cling to a divine shadow after God has made it of no effect. Let us take care that we do neither. Let us not cling to the shadows. There are more shadows than the law. The world is a shadow; we are shadows. The Psalmist says,

"My days are like a shadow that declineth."

Let us have our minds fixed upon the substance. Two courses lie before us, and in the end we must reap according to that which we have sown.

"the form of the knowledge and of the truth," (Rom. 2:20, ) "the pattern of things in the heavens (Heb. 9:23).

Jesus expounded to the disciples, from the law of Moses, the things concerning his death, saying,

"Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer."—(Luke 24:44, 46.)

We have, therefore, a good example for applying to the same source on the same subject. And we do so under excellent guidance; for Paul, by the Spirit, has given us sundry hints, which as so many keys, open up to us the significances that are contained in

"the example and shadow of heavenly things."—(Heb. 8:5.)

For instance, he tells us that the vail of the sanctuary was representative of the flesh of Christ:

"a new and living way, which he hath made new for us through the vail; that is to say, his flesh."—(Heb. 10:20.)

This is confirmed by the fact recorded, that at the moment of Christ's death, "the veil of the temple was rent in twain."—(Luke 23:45.) Now what was the composition of the symbolic veil, which had its spiritual substance in the body of Christ? We are informed at Ex. 26:31:

"Thou shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen."

What is the significance of those colours? We are not without guidance. Blue is healing (Prov. 20:30), expressing that aspect of the body of Christ, "by whose stripes we are healed;" purple is royalty* (John 19:2, 5; Jud. 8:26); showing his extraction from a kingly house: scarlet, what is the moral significance of this, as a type? Sin always. "Though your sins be as scarlet."—(Isaiah 1:18.) "Scarlet-coloured beast."—(Rev. 17:3.)

The new theory makes no provision for this. His being the sin nature of the condemned Adam explains it: but this the new theory denies, and, in so doing, denies the truth. The fine-twined linen finds its counterpart in the righteousness of Christ.

The Christadelphian, Sept 1873

* "purple is royalty" - I see this as a gentile concept rather than divine. The kings of Midian and Romans were following human tradition.

Bro Thomas in Eureka states that purple represents the flesh and scarlet represents the sin thereof.

I believe this is more in keeping with the lesson of Deity manifestation...blue "I am from above", scarlet - "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one" - purple "earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us" - white -"fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness" of Christ.

Hence all the characteristics of Deity Manifest in Messiah are presented in the type of the veil.

2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.

4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

Man having been made subject to evil, and consigned to the bondage of a perishing state, the Lord God repudiated their fig-leaf invention, and "appointed coats of skins" for their covering. In this testimony there is much expressed in few words. To appoint coats of skins implies a command for the sacrifice of animals whose skins were converted to this purpose. It also implies that Adam was the priest on the occasion. who presented himself before the Lord with the mediatorial blood.

When the sacrifice was accepted, the offence was provisionally remitted ; for the scripture saith, that it is not possible for the blood of animals to take away sins. (Heb 10:4) It was impossible, because sin was to be condemned in sinful flesh. This required the death of a man; for the animals had not sinned: so that, if the whole animal world, save man, had been made an offering for sin, sin would still have been uncondemned in his nature.

Besides the necessity of a human sacrifice, God deemed it equally necessary that the victim should be free from personal transgressions; and that when he had suffered, he should rise from the dead so as to be "a living sacrifice".

If the death of a transgressor would have sufficed, then, Adam and Eve might have been put to death at once, and raised to life again. But this was not according to the divine wisdom.

The great principle to be compassed was the condemnation of sin in sinful flesh, innocent of actual transgression. This principle necessitated the manifestation of one, who should be born of a woman, but not of the will of man. Such a one would be the Seed of the Woman, made of her substance, with Him for his Father who by His overshadowing spirit should cause her to conceive. He would be Son of God by origination; and Son of Mary by descent, or birth of sinful flesh.

Now it is not to be supposed that Adam and Eve did not understand this: God doubtless explained it to them; for they had none to teach them but Him, and without His instruction, they would not have known what they should believe. It was from them that Abel derived the knowledge which was the foundation of his faith to which God testified in the acceptance of the firstling of his flock and the fat thereof. Adam and his wife had faith, or God would not have accepted the sacrifices with whose skins they were clothed; for it was as true then as it is now, that "without faith it is impossible to please God."

Elpis Israel 1.5.

5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

Till the birth of the "body prepared" of Mary's substance, the fleshly medium did not exist-there was no God-manifestation through the flesh, nor even then till the baptismal anointing of that body.

Hitherto it was God dwelling in unapproachable light, embosoming the Spirit. But when God manifested himself as a Father, his Spirit, speaking by the Son-Flesh, could say, "Glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." When the prepared body lay in the tomb, the God-manifestation ceased; but when the Spirit of God filled it again, it was on that day begotten as "the Son of God with power according to the holy spiritual nature;" and in relation to the terrestrial system, the preeminent medium of God-manifestation for ever.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, May 1854

***

Nicodemus and his contemporaries heard the voice of the Spirit, breathed forth in the words of spirit and life, uttered by Mary's Son, who they knew was a teacher come from God . But they did not perceive that this teacher was the Eternal Spirit, nor did they comprehend how he came.

Judging by flesh-appearances, they only saw Mary's son, as they saw Isaiah or one of the prophets, as teachers from God.

They did not perceive that Jesus was "a body prepared" by special Spirit-creation, the Cherub upon which the effluent power of the Eternal Substance rested; and that upon him, and through him, he walked through the country breathing forth his voice in the doctrine taught, and his power in the miracles performed not perceiving this, still less did they comprehend that the Effluent Power would so thoroughly change the constitution of the "Body Prepared," that it should be no longer corruptible flesh perpetuated in life by blood and air, but should be transformed into spirit-flesh and spirit-bones, constituting a Spirit-Body -- a material, corporeal substance -- essentially incorruptible, glorious, powerful, deathless, and quickening; and that in this, as corporealized spirit, the Effluent Power that had "come down from heaven" -- from the abode of the Eternal Substance, "which no man can approach unto" would "ascend where he was before."

Phanerosis ...'The Anointed Cherub'

Sin could not have been condemned in the body of Jesus, if it had not existed there. His body was as unclean as the bodies of those He died for; for He was born of a woman, and "not one" can bring a clean body out of a defiled body; for, "that," says Jesus Himself, which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6).

According to this physical law, the Seed of the woman was born into the world. The nature of Mary was as unclean as that of other women; and therefore could give birth only to "a body" like her own, though especially "prepared of God" (Heb. 10:10, 12, 14). Had Mary's nature been immaculate, as her idolatrous worshippers contend, an immaculate body would have been born of her; which, therefore, would not have answered the purpose of God, which was to condemn sin in the flesh; a thing that could not have been accomplished, if there were no sin there.

Speaking of the conception and preparation of the Seed, the prophet, as a typical person, says,

"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psa. 51:5). This is nothing more than affirming that He was born of sinful flesh; and not of the pure and incorruptible angelic nature.

Sinful flesh being the hereditary nature of the Lord Jesus, He was a fit and proper sacrifice for sin; especially as He was Himself "innocent of the great transgression," having been obedient in all things. Appearing in the nature of the seed of Abraham (Heb. 2:16-18), He was subject to all the emotions by which we are troubled; so that He was enabled to sympathize with our infirmities (Heb. 4:15), being "made in all things like unto His brethren." But, when He was "born of the spirit" in the quickening of His mortal body by the spirit (Rom. 8:11), He became a spirit; for "that which is born of the spirit is spirit." Hence, He is "the Lord the Spirit," incorruptible flesh and bones.

Elpis Israel 1.4.

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST

Adam's nature was condemned to die, and Jesus was a divine form of that condemned nature for the meeting of the condemnation in a way that would admit of its salvation. The production of this form was no ordinary operation, and is not to be judged by the laws of physiology.

It was the act of the Eternal Spirit which antecedes, and has made, and when need be, overrides the laws of physiology. All we know and need to know in the matter is, that the Spirit quickened Mary's womb, impressing on the human ovum a certain latent impress of the image of the Invisible, on the basis of which, the babe came forth the Son of God, in the nature of Adam—the whole nature of Adam, not a part—for the bearing of the condemnation inherited by that nature. This was "the body prepared," and this the purpose.

That purpose is indeed the key to the whole matter. What is the purpose? To save men from a law of God's own imposing, but on a principle that does not upset or compromise it, and that while upholding the majesty of God's own government, presents Himself in the front, as the Benefactor of man, that the glory may be to Him (as it in reason ought to be) and not to man, who, as a mere creature existing by Him, cannot take the glory.

What does the new theory say? That God destroyed a life that ought not to have been destroyed; in consideration of which, He is to allow to live a million lives that ought not to live. This is the old orthodox heresy of substitution, the only difference being, that death instead of torment is accepted in "satisfaction." It is the old insult to God, representing Him as winking at the violation of His own laws; accepting a compromise; destroying where He ought not to destroy, and saving alive where He ought not to save alive.

We have been delivered from this blasphemy by the revival, in our day, by the instrumentality of Dr. Thomas, of the sublime doctrine of God manifestation in the flesh, for the condemnation of sin in the flesh, that the poor flesh may be saved, without stultifying the working of God towards it, or leaving it room to glory. This doctrine is a true one, and not to be imperilled by parley with a plausible but hostile theory that comes as an angel of light; to whom we give place by subjection, no not for an hour.

The evidence of it is complete in the few facts already conceded, if there were no other. The Spirit so to speak, arrays itself with the nature of Adam which is the nature condemned. The Son of God is thus no substitute, but the very bearer of the condemnation. Though personally sinless, he was by constitution condemned, and had therefore to offer for himself and his brethren.

This is proved in various ways. There is the declaration of Paul that God sent him forth in the flesh and blood of the children to condemn sin in the flesh.—(Rom. 8:4.) Next, the corresponding statement that he took on him the seed of Abraham that

"through death he might destroy that having the power of death."—(Heb. 2:17, 14.)

Next the statement of Peter that he bore our sins in his own body on the tree.—(1 Pet. 2:24.) Next Paul: He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin.—(2 Cor. 5:21.)

Then there are those statements which shew that it was the body, and not the life, that was the sin-bearing element in the Messiah's death.

"A body hast thou prepared me . . . we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once."—(Heb. 10:5, 10.) "A new and living way which he hath made new for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh."—(Heb. 10:20.) "This is my body which is given for you."—(Luke 22:19.) "The bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world."—(John 6:51.)

Another class of evidence exists in those statements which show that Jesus had himself to be saved:

"In the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared."

"Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things that he suffered. And being made perfect—(He was perfected on the third day when he rose to immortality)—he became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him."—(Heb. 5:7–9.)

"By his own blood, (that is, by death) he entered at once into the holy place, having (thus) obtained eternal redemption" ('for us,' is not in the original.)—(Heb. 9:12.)

The Christadelphian, Sept 1873

THE SLAIN LAMB

...‭"‬Wherefore when he cometh into the world,‭ ‬he saith,‭ ‬Sacrifice and offering thou would'st not,‭ ‬but a body hast thou prepared me.‭"

Thus the Spirit in Paul says,‭ ‬Christ,‭ ‬in the‭ ‬40th Psalm,‭ ‬speaks.‭ ‬Very well,‭ ‬now let us go to the‭ ‬40th Psalm:‭

‭"‬I waited patiently for the Lord,‭ ‬and He inclined unto me,‭ ‬and heard my cry.‭ ‬He brought me up also out of an horrible pit,‭ ‬out of the miry clay,‭ ‬and set my feet upon a rock,‭ ‬and established my goings.‭"

‭ ‬At the‭ ‬6th verse,‭ ‬we have the words quoted by Paul‭; ‬and then,‭ ‬at the‭ ‬11th and‭ ‬12th verses:‭

‭"‬Withhold not now thy tender mercies from me,‭ ‬O Lord‭; ‬let thy loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve me.‭ ‬For‭ ‬innumerable evils compassed me about‭;‬ mine iniquities‭ (‬the iniquities of his brethren laid on him in their effects‭) ‬have taken hold upon me,‭ ‬so that I am not able to look‭; ‬they are more than the hairs of my head‭; ‬therefore,‭ ‬my heart faileth me.‭"

17th verse:

‭ "‬But I am poor and needy‭; ‬yet the Lord thinketh upon me:‭ ‬Thou art my help and‭ ‬my deliverer‭;‬ make no tarrying,‭ ‬O my God.‭"

Adam,‭ ‬in his probation,‭ ‬had not to ask to be delivered,‭ ‬and could not say that innumerable evils had compassed him about

..."Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto Thee. Hide not Thy face from me the day when I am in trouble; incline Thine ear unto me; in the day when I call, answer me speedily. For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. My heart is smitten and withered like grass, so that I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin.

I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top; mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me, are sworn against me. For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping, because of thine indignation and thy wrath; for Thou hast lifted me up and cast me down. My days are like a shadow that declineth, and I am withered like grass."

I quote that to shew that Jesus, in the days of his flesh (as Paul says in the 5th chapter of Heb., at the 7th verse) with strong crying and tears made supplication unto Him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared, and not because he had "free life."

I will shew you before I am done, that he had not a free life, but bore our condemnation in his own person, as much as any of us, necessitating his death before he could be purified from the curse.

This "free life" is a thing you do not read of in the Scriptures; it is a mere invention; a plausible thing, but a gratuitous thing; an unproved assumption, which is made the starting point of the train of reasoning by which it is attempted to establish this heresy. If the initial fallacy is taken for granted, the false conclusion comes with all the appearance of irresistible logic. But let the initial fallacy be perceived, and the whole argument falls to pieces like a rope of sand.

The fallacy is two-fold. First, it is a fallacy to speak of "life" as distinct from "nature." "Life" is used by the Lord and by the apostles in a way to cover the whole idea of existence; and not as an element of existence to be considered abstractly by itself.

Thus the sacrifice of Christ is expressed variously, as the

"laying down of his life," "the giving of his body" (Luke 22:19), "the pouring-out of his soul' (Is. 53:12), or "the offering up of himself" (Heb. 9:25),

as the case requires.

All these literally mean his submission to death, and not the disentanglement of a so-called "life" from his body for presentation to the eternal throne. It was "a body" that was prepared for sacrifice, and not a "life." It was death and not life that was required for the putting-away of sin. But by the incessant iteration of the word "life," as if it were an element separate from being, the Renunciationists bewilder the perceptions of inexperienced minds, and throw them into confusion, which time itself will, doubtless, enable them to recover from, where they are given to reading and thought.

The Christadelphian, Oct 1873

14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

"I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me."

In what way does the offering of shed blood honour God and humble man? The blood is the life. As sinners we are under the condemnation of death. The offering of blood is the acknowledgment of our position, and the vindication of God's righteousness in our humiliation. This demand for sacrifice is one of the most emphatic assertions of God's holiness and supremacy in connection with the Mosaic ritual, and one of the most graphic and telling humiliations of man that it would be possible to devise.

This is one of the secrets of the distaste which most people feel towards the whole system; and at the same time one of the most powerful sweetnesses it has for those who believe. Those who believe, see in it the beauty of mercy on the foundation of God's exaltation, in both of which they find pure pleasure. The other class see in it only fault-finding and gloominess. Christ is the fulfilment of the whole significance.

Law of Moses Ch 12

9 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

The tabernacle was a structure, the first part of which was for the ordinary priests; but the second part for the high priest alone; and into that, even he only entered on one day each year. Are we invited to go into a similar place when the apostle exhorts us to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus?

Christ has gone into heaven itself; how can we enter there? By faith. We know he is there. We are told that he is our priest. We are told that he mediates for us, and therefore we know it and should act upon it. But in what state of mind are we to enter?

"With boldness"

-not timidity-not with fear, like that which Israel exhibited when the mount shook. We are to go freely. There is no restriction; we can go any time-

"The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry."

The ears of the Lord are always open. But we must approach Him in the right way. There are certain conditions of approach, and those are indicated here. One has already been referred to: "full assurance of faith." There is another: "with a true heart." That implies the existence of a false heart. What is it to have "a true heart"? Is it not to have our affections fixed upon Him, to love what He loves, to hate what He hates, much after the manner indicated in the salutation of Jehu to Jonadab, the son of Rechab (2 Kings 10:15)?

"Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?"

...The veil of the temple was rent in twain at the death of Christ to signify that it was no longer the way of approach towards God. In drawing near by this new and living way, we are exhorted to "hold fast without wavering." Why should we waver? Flesh and blood is strong, but flesh and blood must be curbed. You say, it is difficult. So it is; the "Truth" is difficult. It is a matter of "overcoming." To whom are the promises made in the second and third of Revelation?

"To him that overcometh."

"He that overcometh shall inherit all things."

Therefore we must set ourselves to work with determination in a practical manner, to overcome the inclination of the flesh in every direction. If we do that we shall not waver. God does not waver. If, therefore, our heart be with Him we shall not waver.

Seasons 2.13.

Boldness to enter into the Holiest! Boldness—not presumption or brazenness, but loving, intimate confidence and assurance—to look with open face upon the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the living Ark! Paul says (v. 12)—

"Seeing then we have such hope, we use great plainness (marg: boldness) of speech."

Great boldness of speech—in two ways: first, speaking confidently and intimately of holy things that Israel hardly dared to mention, and second, speaking with great plainness and seriousness about the tremendous responsibilities involved.

Do we realize the great and fearful holiness of our calling? Do we forget the elaborate carefulness and sanctification in all details that was required of the High Priest when he entered the Most Holy, "that he die not?" And not only at that time, but at all times: Every thing had to be exactly as God specified—not because there was any intrinsic importance in the ritual itself, but because of the great importance of carefulness and obedience in the realities of character that these shadows typified.

What do these things typify? What is the essential reality they teach? Can we "see to the end?" Or shall we, too, fail? God said, as the smoke of His anger still arose from the burnt bodies of Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10:3)—

"I will be sanctified in them that come nigh Me, and before all the people I will be glorified."

Bro Growcott - BYT 4. 35

20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

In the beginning God's way was styled "the way of the tree of life," which, in the passage where it occurs, must be taken literally, and then allegorically. In its literal sense, it was the path leading to the Tree in the midst of the garden; but allegorically, it signified the things to be believed and practised by those who desired to live for ever.

To believe and do, is to walk in "the way which leadeth unto life," because immortality will be a part of the recompense of reward for so doing.

Until the crucifixion, the way was marked out, first, by the patriarchal arrangement of things, and secondly, by the Mosaic law, all of which pointed to the Shiloh. But, when Jesus appeared, He announced, saying,

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man cometh to the Father, but by me" (John 14:6).

He became the Way, by His sacrificial death and resurrection.

Whosoever would attain to life must believe the truth concerning Jesus, and the kingdom, which is the most holy place. Hence, it is written, "we have boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a New and Living Way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the Veil, that is to say, His flesh" (Heb. 10:19-20).

Elpis Israel 1.5

21 And having an high priest over the house of God; 

In remembrance of Me

Brethren are very unwise who neglect or treat lightly the meeting for breaking of bread. Such conduct is suicidal. The institution is of Christ—it has been arranged as a restorative—a divine tonic for the jaded spiritual man after six days' battling with an evil world.

Who does not feel himself run down on the Saturday night, and, as the result of Sunday's exercises, refreshed and invigorated on the Monday morning? Is it rash to say that without this weekly reminder of Christ many of us would long since have slipped away from the truth?

Truly, it is a merciful ordinance, and one for which we should be devoutly thankful. Let us not despise it. Let each one who attends to it see that he does not mar the good which Christ intended this institution to yield. It is very easy to do this.

Here are a few ways in which it can be done: Come in late, and chatter after the service has commenced. Show ourselves inattentive to the ministrations of the presiding and exhorting brethren (this may be done by yawning, giggling, talking, taking out the watch every few minutes, etc.).

Find fault after the meeting is over with everything that has been done. Send all with whom we come in contact home with their minds full of irritating, absorbing, superfluous items best unknown. On the other hand, if we would co-operate with Christ in making the meeting pleasurable and edifying, then let us shun these things, and show ourselves true worshippers—earnest, zealous, reverential, grateful, loving, anxious to make the meeting to all a source of comfort and upbuilding.

Bro AT Jannaway

TC 12/1901

22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

Paul speaks of the heart being sprinkled (with the blood of Christ): when does this take place? before baptism or after it?

Answer.—Peter says

"Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth."—(1 Peter 1:22.)

The meaning of this is made apparent in the words he addressed to the Pentecostal crowd who asked "What shall we do?"

"Repent, and be baptised for the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38),

and further illustrated in the words of Ananias to Paul:

"Arise and be baptised, and wash away thy sins"—(Acts 22:16, )

and further, in Paul's words to the Romans:

"Buried with him by baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him (1 Col. 2:12) to newness of life.—(Rom. 6:4.) "Baptism doth also now save us, not by the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but by the answer of a good conscience toward God.—(1 Peter 3:21.)

Hence this "answer of a good conscience," consequent on the remission of sins, is obtained in the act of baptism.

Baptism is the institution God has appointed for bringing believing sinners into contact with the benefit secured by the death of Christ. By a figure borrowed from the law, the blood of Christ is then sprinkled upon his heart. Literally, God then forgives him for Christ's sake.

People may laugh at this arrangement, but they cannot deny that it is the way appointed if they believe the testimony of the apostles.

Their laughing may pass unnoticed now, but there is a time when "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh;" and for this time, like Felix, they would tremble if they realised the "terror of the Lord" appertaining to it for those who despise the goodness of God.

It hath pleased God to make use of contemptible things that men's faith may be put to the test, and man's insignificance and God's importance made palpable to every man's conscience in the obedience he has required.

The Christadelphian, May 1873

In remembrance of Me

Brethren are very unwise who neglect or treat lightly the meeting for breaking of bread. Such conduct is suicidal. The institution is of Christ-it has been arranged as a restorative-a divine tonic for the jaded spiritual man after six days' battling with an evil world.

Who does not feel himself run down on the Saturday night, and, as the result of Sunday's exercises, refreshed and invigorated on the Monday morning? Is it rash to say that without this weekly reminder of Christ many of us would long since have slipped away from the truth?

Truly, it is a merciful ordinance, and one for which we should be devoutly thankful. Let us not despise it. Let each one who attends to it see that he does not mar the good which Christ intended this institution to yield. It is very easy to do this.

Here are a few ways in which it can be done: Come in late, and chatter after the service has commenced. Show ourselves inattentive to the ministrations of the presiding and exhorting brethren (this may be done by yawning, giggling, talking, taking out the watch every few minutes, etc.).

Find fault after the meeting is over with everything that has been done. Send all with whom we come in contact home with their minds full of irritating, absorbing, superfluous items best unknown. On the other hand, if we would co-operate with Christ in making the meeting pleasurable and edifying, then let us shun these things, and show ourselves true worshippers-earnest, zealous, reverential, grateful, loving, anxious to make the meeting to all a source of comfort and upbuilding.

Bro AT Jannaway

TC 12/1901

25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

"It is a law of the house that each brother and sister must meet at the table of the Lord on the first day of the week for the breaking of bread. Nothing but denial of the truth in the assembly or overt disobedience of the Lord's commandments among them, can justify a brother or sister in absenting himself or herself from the breaking of bread. 

Such will deceive themselves if they think a private breaking of bread will be accepted in lieu of breaking bread with the assembly. It is the latter the Lord has required of us, and it is the latter we must render. What is true of one is true of more. Nothing but rejection of the faith or the law of Christ by the assembly can justify the formation of a separate assembly..." (Ecclesial Guide No. 39). 

Note the following passages which make allusion to the apostles' example of when the brethren and sisters came together as an ecclesia to break bread (1 Corinthians 11:20-26; 16:2; Matthew 28:1; John 20:19; Acts 20:7; Acts 2:42)

ONCE in seven days is not too often to come to this breaking of bread. We are just about ready for another refreshing by the time we have had six days of the present evil state of existence. Whatever sphere we may move in ã whatever may be the nature of the occupation we have to follow ã our experience is common in this respect, that God is dimmed by our intercourse with man, and our duty and hope require refurbishing after six days of worldly toil This refurbishing we get at the Table of the Lord.

Attendance thereat is essentially a memorial exercise ã a bringing to mind of things that bring great comfort and strength in their remembrance, but which are liable to lose their power by the forgetfulness more or less incident to all human faculty. All the things of which we are thus reminded are comforting.

We are reminded of Christ's love, of the Father's love who sent Christ, and of the practical form which that love takes in the forgiveness of our sins, and in the arranging of that true feast of fat things which is to be spread for the brethren of Christ at his coming. When we have a clear and abiding view of all these things we are comforted.

We need the comfort. We are often in great depths, like David - some in one way and some in another. We have all matters in hand that are apt to drag us down and keep us down.

Seasons 2: 38

Such an exhortation as this implies a stated time and place of assembly. On what day, then, did the ecclesias of the saints meet to exhort one another so as to provoke to love and to good works? Certainly, not on the seventh day, for then the apostles were in the synagogues. What day then more appropriate than the Lord's day, or first day of the week?

Now it cannot be affirmed that the saints were commanded to meet on this day, because there is no testimony to that effect in the New Testament. But, it is beyond dispute, that they did assemble themselves together on the first day of the week, and the most reasonable inference is that they did so in obedience to the instruction of the apostles from whose teaching they derived all their faith and practice, which constituted them the disciples of Jesus.

Elpis Israel 1.2.

So that it had been‭ "‬the manner of some‭" ‬in those days to stay away from the assembly,‭ ‬to stay at home,‭ ‬to take it easy,‭ ‬to excuse themselves the trouble of coming out statedly to the meetings of the brethren,‭ ‬under the idea,‭ ‬no doubt,‭ ‬that it was unnecessary for them to attend the meetings,‭ ‬and that they could serve God as effectively in the quietness and seclusion of home as in the assembly.‭

Now,‭ ‬God,‭ ‬in these things is always wiser than we‭; ‬and the very fact of Christ commanding his disciples to assemble for the purpose of breaking bread,‭ ‬must be taken as proof that it is in itself a wise thing.‭

Sunday Morning No 10

Ambassador of the Coming Age, Nov 1868

For us living in these last days the signs of the times are momentous, for they most assuredly illustrate the near apocalypse of Christ.

So near in fact, that the events are forcefully calling out to us to be prepared and waiting for Christ's visible manifestation on the earth. So strong are they, that it should awake us to our responsibilities that we might increase our efforts, striving to bring our thoughts and actions into close harmony with the Way of Life.

Unless that effort is increased now, and unless we are righteous today, that day will bring only sorrow and rejection instead of joy and acceptance.

Bro David Clubb

26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

This is connected with the condemnation of those who neglect the prescribed assembling of the Saints for the breaking of bread,‭ ‬and shows the nature of the course signified by‭ "‬sinning wilfully‭"‬:‭ ‬a sinning deliberately:‭ ‬presumptuously:‭ ‬going coolly in the face of plainly-enunciated divine requirements,‭ ‬in the spirit of the man who‭ "‬despised Moses‭' ‬law,‭" ‬and therefore constructively a‭ "‬treading under foot of the Son of God,‭ ‬a counting of the blood of the covenant unholy,‭" ‬as the verse proceeds to amplify.‭

It has no reference to sins of infirmity,‭ ‬but to sins of treasonable indifference.

The Christadelphian, Oct 1894. p391-393.

The position assumed by the Novatians was perfectly scriptural. Sins unto death disqualify for inheritance in the kingdom of the Deity, and therefore for fellowship with those who are "the Heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them who love him," or obey him; which is the same thing, for "love is the fulfilling of law." There can be no sin more deadly than that of a christian sacrificing to other gods, and cursing Christ, for the sake of present ease and comfort.

Paul settles this clearly enough to the minds of all who receive the word as the end of all controversy.

"If they who were once enlightened," says he, "shall fall away, it is impossible to renew them again unto a change of mind eis metanoian, seeing they crucify again for themselves the Son of the Deity, and expose him to public shame."

This is bearing thorns and briars; and such, Paul saith, "is rejected, and nigh to cursing; whose end is to be burned" (Heb. vi. 4-8). For an enlightened man to sacrifice to the gods of Greece and Rome, was for him to "sin wilfully" -- a sin for which no sacrifice is provided in the system of righteousness devised by the Deity. It is therefore "a sin unto death;" and for that -- for pardon of that, John discountenanced all petition: "there is a sin unto death; I say not that ye shall pray for it" (1 John v. 16).

Eureka

35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

The danger is that we tire in the long silence and darkness of the night in which our lot is cast. This would be a great mistake. What else is there of hope? Naught besides. If we surrender this, darkness irretrievable is our inheritance; away from God, there is no redemption from the vanity of present existence.

Seasons 1.55.

It is good to get another glimpse of the facts upon which we stand and out of which our hopes arise. The facts are apt to get out of sight somewhat. Our faculties are dim at the best and our lives are apt to make them dimmer in divine directions.

Our lives now, in fact, may be compared to a day of fog and rain in which it is very difficult to realise the sun and the glorious blue of heaven. The meetings act as a rift in the cloud. They shew us the smile of heaven behind all the unfavourable aspects of the moment. They help us to feel again the reviving strength of the things most surely established by the testimony of God, and to resume the journey with renewed determination.

We are like the children on the road to a house to which they have been invited. Our stature and our strength are small, and though the prospect of the party is attractive, our little steps grow tired. What do we say to the children in such a case? We comfort and encourage them by telling them they will soon be at their journey's end, and that they will forget all their weariness when once they get there.

Our journey is not long though it seems so. We look at our future in perspective and think it longer than it is. It cannot last above so many years, and perhaps not one; and when it is over, it is over for ever. The toils of this mortal will never return. The anxieties, and weakness, and disappointments of this state will be replaced by comfort, strength, and gladness for ever. We get this assurance from whatever part of the word comes under our notice

Sunday Morning 169 - TC 07/1886.

36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

The knowledge of the Truth is not without its drawbacks. It puts us out of fit with the people and the state of things around us. This is far from agreeable or advantageous for the present time. Nevertheless, it is a privilege when rightly estimated. It is precisely the experience of the first disciples.

...It has pleased God to appoint trial as the preliminary to exaltation. We may not like it, but we may be quite sure it is wise. Our judgment in the matter can only waver in the actual hour of suffering. With a sufficiently wide sweep of the eye, it is impossible not to see that tribulation is a splendid preparation for glory.

Does it not make us more humble and sensible than we should be if we had nothing but that which is agreeable in our experience? Does it not enable us more easily to realise that in ourselves we are nothing, and that God only is inherently wise and good and strong and everlasting? Does it not prepare a sweeter salvation than if we knew nothing but sunshine?

What more odious than to see the pampered child of prosperity pass on from promotion to promotion with an air of satiety and disdain? Tribulation will chasten and purify and beautify and ennoble so that men and angels will acquiesce in the exaltation of a tried and modest faith.

God's plan in this respect is beautiful, in that He is creating beforehand a reason for conferring an honour that we could not earn for ourselves- He has said:

"Them that honour me, I will honour."

What opportunity could we have of honoring God except by being allowed to live in an evil age, when human honour is the great mainspring of action, and God is everywhere in works denied? If the greeting, "Well done, good and faithful servant," is waiting, it is because, meanwhile, the Master is gone and his service condemned as a worthless and a dishonorable thing.

The time will come when we shall look back upon such a time as a time of great opportunity. If we did not have an opportunity, we should be dissatisfied now in proportion as we are earnest lovers of Christ, and we should lack the chief joy that will be ours when we have got through the long conflict with darkness and dishonour and pain and weariness and fasting that is the inevitable lot of saints in the present evil world. Hold on, brethren.

"Cast not away your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward."

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

"It shall be said on that day, Lo, this is our God. We have waited for Him. We shall be glad and rejoice in His salvation."

Seasons 2.63