TEHILLIM 89

15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Yahweh, in the light of thy countenance.

What the True Gospel Is

(From the Gospel Banner.)

The word "Gospel," as is pretty well known—signifies "good news" or "glad tidings." It is derived from the Saxon god, good; and spel, speech or news. In the Greek its equivalent is euanggelion; from eu, good, and anggelion, a message—a good message.

When the definite article the is placed before the word, it is used to denote, by way of preëminence, that particular "good news" which concerns the best interests of the human race as revealed in the Bible, viz., salvation.

So far, then, all agree; but the common idea stops short here, dealing only in generalities, and cannot enter into particulars, nor give a clear, consistent definition, except some vague theory that it is

"the good news of forgiveness of sins through Christ's death on the cross to save men from eternal woe."

...This "joyful sound," Ps. 89:15, is known by various names in Scripture. It is called "the Gospel of God," because it comes from him, as its author, Rom. 15:16, and "the gospel of the grace of God," Acts 20:24, because it publishes his favour and loving kindness to fallen men, and because all this favour is freely given by him, unbought either by Christ's blood or anything else. Hence the term "grace" in many texts, must be understood as referring to the gospel, though not always specified. Such as—Acts. 13:43; Rom. 5:2, 15; 1 Cor. 1:4; 2 Cor. 6:1; 9:14; Gal. 2:14; Eph. 3:2, 7; Heb. 5:10.

It is called the "gospel of Christ," because it is about him, and sent forth by him, Rom. 15:19, 29; 1 Cor. 4:15; 2 Cor. 4:4; and is glad tidings concerning the mission of mercy he is working out for men.

It is this "grace," kindness or favour of God and of Christ, that brings us salvation, Titus 2:11; and is bestowed on men without any former merit or purchase on their part.

This "gospel of our salvation" is identical with the "Word of Truth," Eph. 1:13; and Jas. 1:18, 21; it is called the "Word of the Truth of the Gospel," Col. 1:6; and had Pilate waited a little to receive an answer to his question, "What is truth," may be he might have received one which would have definitely settled the matter in the plainest terms.

Still there is sufficient to show to the candid that "the Truth as it is in Jesus" must be comprehensive of the gospel, Eph. 4:21. "The Truth" and "the Gospel," are therefore convertible terms, and so is the phrase "the Faith;" and frequently another expression, "the Word of the Lord," or more simply "the Word," is used to denote the gospel enlarged to its fullest extent by the additional testimonies of Jesus and the Apostles, and is applied both to God and Christ.

This expression does not always mean the Bible, as many suppose, but is generally restricted in the New Testament to the collection of those grand and saving truths which formed the subject-matter of their preaching. And occasionally it is termed "the Word of Life," 1 John 1:1, and "the words of this life," Acts 5:20; because it reveals Immortality.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jan 1859

20 I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:

The anointing

Do ye understand the mighty idea involved in this expression? Many talk as if it were a mere effusion of galvanism—the pouring out of something which, when poured, was a limited quantity in the possession of him anointed. We shall find it imports a profounder thing than this—viz., the establishment of such a connection between the anointer (God) and the anointed, as that the power and intelligence of the one streams with the anointing through the other, establishing a unity of which we have little conception.

Whence comes the term anointed? It is borrowed from the practice under the law of pouring oil in token of appointment or consecration. Confined to this, the limited idea referred to is in its place, but it must be remembered that the anointing with oil was a mere type of that marvellous operation which was to result in Christ—the great end and substance and antitype of all the Mosaic ceremonials:—God manifest in the flesh by the spirit, constituting a Son of God.

When that operation was accomplished, Jesus of Nazareth was in the bosom of the Father, "for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him." By the spirit, he was in God, and God was in him. The connection was one of power and intelligence.

If the limited action of the spirit on a prophet made the prophet's mind en rapport with the Deity for the time being, what was the mental condition of a man begotten of the spirit and inhabited by the spirit in measureless presence? It was a condition of unity with the great fountain head. Jesus and the Father were one.

When did this begin? There were stages in the development. The first was when the words of the angel to Mary were fulfilled.

"The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee; and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also shall that holy thing that shall be born of thee be called the Son of God."—(Luke 1:35.)

A child begotten of the Holy Spirit—that is, of God—was a very different child from one begotten of the will of the flesh. The difference was manifest in the fact that at no period did the child commit sin. An ordinary child, however well organized, would have gone astray before acquiring the experience necessary to give wisdom.

The brain brings nothing into the world but impulse. There is the latent capacity for wisdom, but no wisdom until the experience of evil imparts it. But this child had wisdom from the beginning: Wisdom was its starting point. It grew in wisdom; it never sinned: at twelve it knew its Father and its mission and devoted himself to His work—a knowledge intuitively derived from the Spirit that guided him from his mother's womb; (Psalm 22:9–10; 71:6); for such a knowledge with such results at such an age would have been an impossibility with a merely human brain.

At 30, the time had arrived to introduce him to Israel, and to bestow an increase of the power to which he owed his existence. Accordingly, it was revealed to John (sent to prepare the way of the Lord), that on whomsoever, among the crowds that came to his baptism, the Spirit should visibly descend that was the Christ. When Jesus came out of the water, the manifestation was given; and the Messiah (or Christ) stood revealed;

"This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased!"

He then entered upon the second stage: the manifestation of God in mortal flesh by the spirit shed without measure upon a man provided for himself by the operation of the spirit upon the "seed of David according to the flesh." For three years and a half, this wonderful man—in whom God tabernacled—to whom the winds and the sea were obedient—went about doing good, speaking the words of God, and teaching as one having authority and not as the scribes.—(Matt. 7:29.)

At the end of that time, he was crucified, and the Father left him for three days. On the third day, He returned to him, and the anointing was then consummated in the substance of the man Christ Jesus being changed to spirit, and he was "received up into glory," where "he ever liveth to make intercession for those who come unto God by him."

The Christadelphian, Oct 1869

34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

is quoted in proof of the unchangeableness of the Sabbath. Its connection with the subject in hand is by no means clear. The spirit in David is not saying anything in this Psalm about the Sabbath. Its most prominent topic is the re-establishment of the throne of David.

It is the Davidic covenant to which the above verse refers. The verse following proves this:

"Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not be unto David."

No attempt is made to show that the Sabbath forms part of the Davidic covenant. Therefore this passage is quite foreign to the subject in hand. If it be intended to show that when God once enacts a law, or ordains a covenant, He never abolishes them, it is strangely inconsistent with the admission that the Mosaic covenant has been abrogated.

Is the Observance of the Sabbath Binding on Believers? Bro J. J. Andrew.

The Christadelphian, July 1872

47 Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?

One thing‭ ‬is needful‭; ‬with others we can dispense.‭ ‬We‭ ‬must have the knowledge of God in the power thereof sufficient to transform the natural man into the likeness of the divine moral image.‭ ‬We‭ ‬must be spiritually-minded,‭ ‬for any other state means death.‭ ‬We‭ ‬must walk as friends of God‭; ‬and as such we cannot have friendship with the world which is revealed as His enemy,‭ ‬and friendship with whom He counts enmity to Himself.‭

We‭ ‬must be filled with wisdom—the wisdom which is from above—the wisdom that comes from and relates to God‭; ‬for the absence of it ensures our repudiation of Him in the day when he makes up His jewels.‭ ‬And to secure this wisdom,‭ ‬we must apply ourselves continually to its acquisition‭; ‬for the acquisition thereof is difficult and a work of time.‭

Like the precious things of nature,‭ ‬God has made wisdom a hidden thing,‭ ‬requiring search,‭ ‬and which the hand of the diligent only at last obtains.‭ ‬There is,‭ ‬therefore,‭ ‬no time for the occupations of folly.‭ ‬True saints recognise the necessity for working out their own salvation.‭ ‬To them Peter's exhortation is no meaningless one,‭ ‬that they be diligent to make their calling and election sure.‭

They recognise the immense dangers to which they are exposed.‭ ‬They resist,‭ ‬as the most diabolical of devilish delusions,‭ ‬either the theory of light within,‭ ‬on the one hand,‭ ‬or the Calvinistic fatalistic no-will-of-your-own doctrine on the other—doctrines which both alike seduce from the path of earnest heedfulness to the means of our salvation,‭ ‬which God has provided for us in His Word.

And by constant meditation on all they see around them,‭ ‬they aim to realíse to themselves the evanescent character of the present life,‭ ‬and so to be helped in the diligent pursuit of that which is truly real and important.‭

History and general knowledge are here a help.‭ ‬They assist the understanding to cope with and put to flight the delusion of the senses.‭ ‬They enable us to see and to feel,‭ ‬in spite of the constant,‭ ‬importunate,‭ ‬and plausible appeals of the natural man,‭ ‬alias the devil,‭ ‬to the contrary,‭ ‬that our present existence is in itself no more real than the vapour to which James compares it‭; ‬and thus numbering our days,‭ ‬we are taught to apply our hearts to wisdom.‭

Looking back,‭ ‬we see busy generations struggling up life's rugged hill,‭ ‬all with the same hopeful eagerness,‭ ‬all with the same ardent anxieties,‭ ‬all with the same idea of the importance of the affairs in hand‭; ‬and as we see them gain the top and descend the other side,‭ ‬we notice the same toning down,‭ ‬the same disappointment,‭ ‬the same vanity and vexation of spirit,‭ ‬and the same quiet grave at the bottom.

‭ ‬As we contemplate the scene,‭ ‬we say with Isaiah,‭ "‬Surely the people is grass‭;" ‬and with another prophet,‭ "‬Lord,‭ ‬we are no better than our fathers‭;" ‬and with another,‭

‭"‬Wherefore hast Thou made all men in vain‭? ‬What man is he that liveth and shall not see death‭? ‬Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave‭?" (‬Psalm‭ ‬89:47,‭ ‬48‭);

and with a fourth we pray,

‭ "‬Return,‭ ‬O Lord.‭ ‬How long‭? ‬.‭ ‬.‭ ‬.‭ ‬Make us glad according to the days wherein Thou hast afflicted us,‭ ‬and the years wherein we have seen evil.‭ ‬Let Thy word appear unto Thy servants,‭ ‬and Thy glory unto their children And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,‭ ‬and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us‭; ‬yea,‭ ‬the work of our hands establish Thou it.‭"

The Christadelphian, Jan 1876

48 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.

Away from the Truth the answer to this is doleful indeed. What man indeed? Not the highest, not the richest, not the most gifted, not the most blameless, not the most loved, can escape the inflexible law which works in every human frame and dissolves it in death at last. The grave opens her mouth, and the whole stream of human glory descends into it from age to age.

... Apart from Christ, there is no hope at all; in him we have a hope sure and certain. God has given him the power over all flesh to do as he wills, and he has made known his ready and most gracious willingness to exercise it beneficially towards all who humble themselves to his requirements.

"Him that cometh to me," he says, "I will in no wise cast out."

Not only so, but he has issued his invitation to-

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Bro Roberts - The completeness of the truth

Israel and Resurrection

Resurrection stands out prominently at the very starting point of Israel's national history; as plainly appears from the use Christ makes of the proclamation to Moses at the bush (Ex. 3:6), saying (to the Sadducean deniers of the resurrection),

"Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (Luke 20:37).

While the Sadducees denied the resurrection, the Pharisees confessed to it; of this, Paul (who was also a Pharisee) took advantage when once he was before the Jewish council; observing that the assembly was composed in part of Sadducees, and in part of Pharisees, he at once relieved himself of their joint hostility, by setting them one against another, crying out

"Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; of the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am called in question" (Acts 23:6, 7).

This shows that the resurrection of the dead was an established doctrine in Israel, at least with the leading section of the community. The hope of the resurrection, being a thing clearly set forth in the Psalms and the writings of the nation's prophets (Isa. 25:8; 26:19; Hos. 13:14; Ps. 16:9–11; 68:20; Dan. 12:2); the conclusion is that the resurrection was an element of the "hope of Israel," and the promises made to the fathers, as Paul shows, and as he says,

"which they themselves (the Jews) also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust" (Acts 24:14–21).

This "just and unjust" covers the whole ground, and agrees with the saying in Daniel (12.) that

"some shall awake to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt."

Jesus teaches the same doctrine, when he speaks on the one hand, of "all the prophets" being in the Kingdom of God; and on the other hand of others, who will be there to see this fulfilled, but who being workers of iniquity, will be "thrust out" of the kingdom (Luke 13:28, 29.)

The same thing comes out again on the occasion that Christ was speaking at one of the feasts of the Jews at Jerusalem: "they that have done good," says he,

"shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:29).

From all of which, it is manifest that these testimonies (and others that might be adduced), contemplate a general resurrection of the just and unjust in Israel. At the same time, this may not include every individual Jew that has ever lived; for as "times of ignorance" preceded times of knowledge and consequent responsibility (Acts 17:20), in the case of the Gentiles; so, times of darkness and blindness (Mic. 3:6; Rom. 11:7, 25), have happened to Israel; such as the 400 years preceding Christ's first coming, and such as the 1800 years that have elapsed since he went away.

What number of Jews these periods may yield up at the resurrection, or whether any, it is not perhaps possible to say with certainty. Light and knowledge on the subject of the truth and its requirements is the ground of resurrection-responsibility; but the man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead" (Prov. 21:16).

The Christadelphian, Nov 1889