Pastor Albert Mitchell
Signs Publishing Association
Warburton, Victoria, Australia, 1945.
HIS BIOGRAPHY BY PASTOR LLEWELLYN JONES
Pastor Albert Mitchell was born in Rutherglen, Victoria, on January 29, 1903, one often children, completed forty-four years of service, and after a prolonged illness was called to rest on February 9, 1968. When he was about fifteen years old, an older sister made the startling discovery of the Sabbath in the Bible. Seeking explanation for its neglect by the church of the day, eventually she was referred to the late Pastor Harry Mitchell (no relation), then working in a nearby country town. Accompanied by her brothers Tom and Albert, both destined to be so well-known in the Sabbath-keeping church, they rode on horseback to visit Pastor Mitchell. And that was the beginning of a lifetime of service for both Tom and Albert, both in the course of time becoming ordained ministers themselves.
PREFACE
THE reasons for compiling in book form sermon-lectures, as originally published in a city newspaper, are:
Firstly, I have seen the need of having the great fundamental Bible truths made plain, and yet complete in a concise form. Complete newspaper reports cover the ground, without unnecessary “packing.” Thus to reprint them in book form is an excellent method of making available vital truths in brief form, for those who have not the time to search the Scriptures exhaustively with concordance and library assistance.
Secondly, this method which I have adopted is an answer to the many expressions of appreciation from those who attend my lectures, such as, “I wish I had that in print.” These reports cover all the vital points, all that is necessary to a correct understanding of the subjects dealt with.
For a number of years, and in various centers in Australia and New Zealand, the daily newspapers have published reports of my addresses. From my contact with the public, I know that they are widely read and appreciated, and that they draw souls closer to God and His truth. Only last week, a mother told me of her son well out in the country, with a family without church advantages, who used to look forward to the paper for the daily news, but now for my sermon reports. These newspaper reports he acknowledges have led him into clearer light and truth, and given him a desire for spiritual things. I learned of him through a request for books that may further enlighten him on Bible truths.
I express appreciation to those busy men who control the columns of the great daily newspapers, who co-operate with me in distributing the blessings of timely Bible truths to the many thousands whom I could never reach without their co-operation. They certainly share the reward of uplifting their fellow-men with the sacred messages of truth. The all-seeing God alone knows the extent of the good accomplished-of hard hearts made tender, of hopes brightened, of noble and uplifting resolutions made, and in short, of better men and women as the result of a heavenly breath of God’s Word coming from time to time with the daily newspaper.
I humbly dedicate this work to our heavenly Father, Jesus our loving Savior, and the comforting Holy Spirit, who has called me “out of darkness into His marvelous light.” And I pray that the Lord may ever use me in the rescuing of a multitude of souls from the ways of sin and error, to walk in the ways of righteousness and truth, and finally to shine “as the stars for ever and ever.” Yours in the Master’s service,
YOUR’S TRULY
PASTOR ALBERT I. MITCHELL
August, 1945
The sermon lectures contained in this book were first published in the Maryborough Chronicle, the city
daily newspaper of Maryborough, a progressive industrial city of Queensland.
THE GREATEST, NOBLEST, AND BEST-AND THE REASON WHY
A stirring lecture, that will appeal to the intelligence, and grip the heart.
Hear the message from our late King George V.
“SURROUNDING our rock-bound, stormy Australian coast is a circle of winking eyes yes that never sleep in the dreariest and darkest night-they are the lighthouses of the Commonwealth. Their lambent flame stirs the pulse of the mariners who sail along our shores. At darkest midnight they send their cheering message to the anxious skipper whose vessel carries precious souls, trustingly asleep on the deep,” Thus spoke Pastor Mitchell in his opening remarks in an address on “Men and the Book: the Greatest, Noblest, and Best-and the Reason Why,” in the Naval Hall on Sunday night.
Continuing, he said: “Great and varied are the buildings and houses of the world, but the lighthouse is unique in its usefulness. It is the one distributor of the reassuring bright beacon that never fails to shine out across the restless waters, the darkened landmarks, and the submerged rocks of the angry seas even in the darkest night. Likewise the Bible, the world’s greatest book, is undeniably ‘a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.’
“A darkened lighthouse may mean a huge liner with a thousand passengers crashing on an ironbound coast, and mourning crape bound on twice that number of arms throughout Australia. Likewise nations, . communities, or individuals bereft of the guiding light of the Word of God, must necessarily grope in darkness, and lose their way, not-only spiritually, but very often materially as well.
SUBLIME INSTRUCTIONS
“The greatness, the nobility, and the excellence of the Bible is best attested” said Mr. Mitchell, “by observing the qualities and characteristics of the men who have followed most accurately its sublime instructions.” The following words of the Reverend E. F. Burr, D.D., were read: “Behold a venerable man, in some high place, bending over the Bible! Who is he? His name is Francis Bacon-Lord High Chancellor of England, and father of the Inductive Philosophy, who said: ‘There never was found in any age-of the world either religion or law that did so highly exalt the public good as the Bible.”
“His name is Isaac Newton, the most illustrious mathematician and discoverer of all time, who says: ‘I account the Scriptures of God to be the most sublime philosophy. I find more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history whatever.’
“His name is Benjamin Franklin, father of American science and statesmanship, and of the philosophy of common sense, who says: ‘Young men, my advice to you is that you cultivate an acquaintance with, and a firm belief in the Holy Scriptures. This is your certain interest.”
“His name is Goethe, the most variously gifted and renowned of all the German men of letters, who says: ‘No criticism will be able to perplex the confidence I have entertained in a writing whose contents have stirred up and given life to my energy by its own.’
“His name is Guizot, one of the most shining and influential writers and statesmen of recent France, who says in his will: ‘I have a firm belief in the history contained in the Old and New Testaments, and in the regeneration of the human race by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.”
Continuing, the lecturer said: “I have a very precious message to bear to you just now on this subject, kind friends. It is precious because of the cherished memories of the one who gave it. Tonight it is not necessary for me to speak concerning the nobility, the greatness, and the excellence of our late sovereign, King George V; you cherish his memory. Listen carefully while I read the message on this subject from that great man, who followed the practice and knew the value of reading a chapter of the Bible every day. Here is the message he gave: ‘It is my confident hope that my subjects may never cease to cherish their noble inheritance in the Bible, which in a secular aspect is the first of all national treasures, and in its spiritual significance the most valuable thing that the world affords.’
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
“Would you like to hear of another great national leader and his testimony concerning the Book?” asked Mr. Mitchell. “I am thinking of Abraham Lincoln. From what I have read of him I think he was one of the noblest presidents that the United States of America was ever blessed with. Listen to his message: ‘In regard to the great Book, I have only this to say: It is the best gift which God has given to man.’ It would appear like the echo from Abraham Lincoln’s words, if we listen to one of his recent successors, Woodrow Wilson. He said: ‘The Bible is the Word of life. I beg that you will read it and find this out for yourselves.”
Among other scriptures read from the Bible during the address was Psalm 119:11: “Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee.” “The Bible,” said the pastor, “is the nonconductor of sin. The Bible will keep you from sin if sin does not keep you from the Bible.” In proof of this statement, several experiences, published and verified as true by the American branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society, were cited. The following is one of the experiences, which was read under the caption, “The Borrowed Gospel.” “Say, what’s that book you got there?” asked a cowboy of his foreman, who was adding a sum on the back of an envelope supported by a little book held in his hand. ‘Why, that’s a Gospel of John,’ absently replied the foreman. ‘Let me see it a minute,’ said the cowboy when the other was through with it. The book was handed over, and at that moment the foreman was summoned elsewhere. The cowboy also resumed his task, and did not again see his boss for several days. In the meantime he read the Book, and through its pages the Holy Spirit brought conviction and repentance to the heart of this carefree man of the plains. When the cowboy returned the Book, the following conversation took place: ‘Boss, have you read it?’ ‘No, I have not.’ ‘Where do you reckon I could buy such a book?’ ‘I don’t know; this one was given to me by a man I met at the supply store a couple of weeks ago.’ ‘Well, I’m going to buy one; and if I were you, I’d sure read that book. It’s the best thing I ever read. If it wasn’t so small, I’d sure say it was’ a Bible, because a man can’t read that book without making him want to be better than he was.”
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
It was pointed out that the Bible was the Book that made one’s life safe on the once cannibal islands. There were men preaching the gospel who at one time sat at cannibal feasts. It was the Word of God that had changed their lives. Mr. Mitchell spoke of his personal contact with one of these natives of the South Seas, who at the time held in his hand an axe which he admits had killed many a man; “But I felt safe,” said the speaker, “for in his other hand he held a Bible.”
“The world’s greatest men are great because of their contact with the Bible, the world’s greatest book,” was the concluding thought of the lecture. “Study it to be wise, believe it to be safe, practice it to be holy,” was the final advice of the address.
AND THE BIBLE RESURRECTION
Hear of the remarkable resurrection of the Bible, after Voltaire and Thomas Paine had passed the death
sentence and read its obituary notice.
UNDER the caption, “Voltaire’s False Prophecy and the Bible Resurrection,” Pastor Mitchell, in the Naval Hall on Sunday night, graphically outlined the remarkable progress of the circulation of the Bible, and emphasized the fact that it had today become the common bond, that, more than any other one thing, had an influence that somehow bound man to man and kindred to kindred. The belief was expressed that if the Bible were to become the guiding star of life, and the inspiration of the motives and accomplishments of all men, of all nations, the result would be a calming of the troubled international seas, and the settling down of the dove of peace on the tranquil shores of prosperity the world over. At the present, though the Bible is not the moral rule of every citizen, even in so-called Christian nations, yet its influence is such that it may rightly be termed the common bond. The Savior of the Bible, Jesus of Nazareth, is the golden link, cherished and loved by all Christians, of every land and clime.
“The Bible,” said Mr. Mitchell, “is the world’s most remarkable literary phenomenon. The English Bible is the greatest literary classic of the English speaking people of the world. Its language tells the most in the fewest words. It contains the most remarkable powers of comfort and council of any known book. But perhaps the most outstanding marvel of all is its remarkable power to thrive on refutation, insult, and misrepresentation; to have been the book searched out and destroyed, burned and banned as no other book was through the ages, yet to be the most loved, respected and popular book of the world today.”
Mr. Mitchell commented on the test of time, on the truth of the words of Isaiah 4:8: “The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” “Apparently,” said the speaker, “all the genius and diabolical efforts of men and demons who have tried to obliterate the Word of God from the earth, has had no more effect than would the shooting of boiled peas affect the strongholds of the British fortress of Gibraltar.
OUTLIVES ITS FOES
“The Bible is the book which has been refuted, and apparently overthrown, and exploded more times than any other book you ever heard of. But it outlives its foes. I suppose if you could collect all the books written against the Bible, you could build a pyramid higher than the loftiest spire. When the Bible is refuted, the next day, or the next year, the arguments are proved to be false, and the critics have to do their work all over again. Infidels have been at work nearly two millenniums,” said Mr. Mitchell, “hammering away at the Bible. They have made as much impression on the Bible as the village boy has made on the smithy anvil with his toy hammer.”
It was pointed out that in Voltaire’s time the critics thought that the Bible was completely demolished. Voltaire had apparently read the death sentence, and published the obituary notice of the Scriptures in advance. He had prophesied that in less than a hundred years, Christianity would he wiped from existence, and pass into history. It did appear so at the time, commented the speaker. Infidelity ran riot through France, red-handed and impious. But the century passed away. Voltaire has “passed into history,” but the Word of God “lives and abides for ever.” Thomas Paine about the same time thought he had finished the Bible.
He thought he had demolished and finished it off completely. But what happened after he had crawled desperately into a dishonored grave in the year 1809? Asked Mr. Mitchell. Shall we now come to some vital statistics? Yes, living, pulsating with an energy divine. Up to the year 1800, from four to six million copies of the Scriptures, in some thirty different languages, comprised all that had ever been produced since the world began.
BIBLE STATISTICS
“What is the position today?” he asked. “A little over a week ago I wrote to the secretary of the Brisbane branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society to get the position of the Bible in the world today. I will let the secretary answer this question for us. As his letter is almost wholly statistics, I will read his letter in its entirety.
“Pastor Albert I. Mitchell, 89 Tooley Street, Maryborough
“Dear sir, Kindly accept our thanks for yours of the 13th instance in which you ask for facts and figures regarding the work of our society. These we have very much pleasure in giving you as under:
“Since its foundation in 1804 to 31st March, 1935, our society had circulated 464,374,879 copies of Scripture, made up as follows: 78,248,137 Bibles; 113,845,714 New Testaments; 272,281,028 portions; and has printed or circulated the Scriptures in over 700 languages. A new translation is added every four weeks. The annual circulation averages nearly eleven millions, the figures for the last five years being: 1931, 11,800,000; 1932, 10,500,000; 1933, 10,600,000, 1934, 10,900,000, 1935, 10,900,000. The largest circulation is in China, where the average is nearly four million copies per annum. A few figures for other countries are: Europe, 1,609,900; Korea 661,000; Japan, 506,000; Africa, 522,000; India and Ceylon, 1,119,000. The society employs over 1,000 colporteurs and Bible-women, and it is mainly through these that the Scriptures are distributed. Of the society’s total circulation - 464,000,000, mentioned above-120,000,000 have been in England.
“We are sending under separate cover a few leaflets and a copy of our last London report, which will give you much information concerning our work. We are not in a position to give the figures for other Bible societies with the exception of the American Bible Society, which last year distributed over seven million copies of the Scriptures. We have heard it said that the total annual distribution by all societies is in the vicinity of thirty millions, but we cannot give definite figures.
“Just at present we have no printed catalogue, but as soon as we change our headquarters, which we will be doing shortly, a new one will be prepared and copies sent to you for distribution. You can tell your people, however, that Bibles are available from is 6 pence upwards, New Testaments from 3 pence, and Gospels at 1 pound each or 9 pound per dozen, and other portions from 1 pound each. We greatly appreciate your interest in our work, and look forward to having the pleasure of meeting you when it can be made possible. With Christian greetings; yours sincerely, J. L. Clark, acting secretary.”
“That is the information just as I have received it, friends,” said the speaker, who then asked, “Does that sound much like a dead book?-I should think not.”
A PROPHET
Continuing, Mr. Mitchell said that Robert G. Ingersoll in one of his lectures made the statement that in ten years the Bible would not be read, and in two decades it would be a forgotten book. What sort of a prophet was Colonel Ingersoll? He may be judged from the fact that in our day the Bible is selling at the rate of possibly thirty million copies a year. It was then pointed out that 2,000 copies of any book has always been considered a large edition. One hundred thousand is on a very large scale. The book “All Quiet on the Western Front” reached the astonishing total of 1,325,000 copies in seven months. But no book sells at thirty million copies a year apart from the Bible. No book has reached the sale of over 464,000,000 copies as has the Bible, and in nearly 1,000 languages.
Mr. Mitchell closed his address with two illustrations read from “The Common Bond,” which he had just received from the Brisbane office of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and which was published in London last year. He read as follows:-
“Passing through one of the suburbs of Alexandria a colporteur met a group of men to whom he tried to sell his books. ‘I am a Frenchman,’ one of them said, and he was handed a book of the Bible in French. ‘I am an Englishman,’ another exclaimed, and he was given a book in English. ‘I am a Greek,’ remarked a third, and for him was produced a Gospel in Greek. ‘I am an Italian,’ explained a fourth, and he found himself in possession of a book in Italian. ‘I am a Jew,’ observed yet another, and a book in Hebrew was placed in his hands. ‘You are like a conjurer!’ exclaimed one of them. ‘You produce every kind that is asked for!”
THE PASS WAS GRANTED
The closing illustration as read from “The Common Bond” was from Eritrea:-
“In the town of Hassala I called at the office of the police commandant for a local pass to enter Eritrea. After reading my letter of application he looked at me keenly. ‘Are you going to sell Bibles?’ he asked. ‘Yes, sir,’ I replied. ‘Can you speak Italian?’ ‘No, sir.’ ‘Well, Abysinnian?’ ‘No, sir.’ ‘Then what are you going to do there if you cannot speak the language of the people?’ he asked in amazement. ‘It may seem strange to you, sir,’ I responded, ‘but the Bibles I carry speak the languages of nearly 1,000 races, and among them are the two you mentioned.’ The pass was granted.”
Mr. Mitchell commented on the splendid work of the British and Foreign Bible Society, stating that it sold many of the Scriptures and Scripture portions at less than cost price. It depended to a great extent upon legacies of the dead and gifts from the living. If you have money you do not know what to do with, you cannot give it to a better organization. If you are troubled about how to leave that fortune you have, write to the secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, Brisbane, he said.
SPEAKING on the subject of the divine inspiration of the Bible in the Naval Hall on Sunday night, Pastor Mitchell said that inasmuch as the claim to its being the inspired Word of God was in evidence from the beginning to the end of its writings, because of this extraordinary claim the Bible must of necessity be viewed differently from other good books, which, though good, made no claim to their being divinely inspired.
Continuing, he said, “Many will say, ‘Oh, yes, the Bible is a very good book, but there are other good books. Some will say,” said Mr. Mitchell, -Yes, the Bible was inspired, and so was Shakespeare, or John Bunyan, or Milton, Plato, and Socrates, so is the almanac.’ It is useless to waste time on false issues. When I open a masterpiece of Shakespeare, I know the literary value of it. In my collegian days I memorized one hundred lines of Shakespeare’s writings for a quarterly examination on one occasion, and was disappointed by not getting one question on it in the examination. But to be sure I have never read, ‘Thus said the Lord God of hosts,’ as an introduction to any of Shakespeare’s writings.
“If I turn to Plato’s writings I do not read, ‘The word of the Lord came unto me,’ or when I turn for information to the almanac, I do not read, ‘Hear you the word of the Lord.’ But over and over again while reading the Bible I am reminded that the message is from God.
“Now the message of the Bible is the word of the Lord, or it is not,” said Mr. Mitchell. “If it is not what it professes to be, it would not be even a good book. How are we to regard it? Is it the best book in the world, as even those who deny its divine inspiration usually admit, or are its claims to be inspired of God false? If it is not the best book in the world, then because of what it claims to be it must be the worst. It claims to be the word of God; if it is not, it is a lie, a deception, a swindle, a humbug, a fraud.”
WONDERFUL AUTHORSHIP
Dealing with the authorship of the Bible, the words of 2 Timothy 3:16 were read: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” It was stated that the Greek rendering suggests the thought, “All Scripture is God breathed.” 2 Peter 1:21 was also cited: “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
“What a conglomeration of ideas would exist in a book written by some thirty pr forty men were it not for this fact ‘holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” said the speaker. “The authorship of this Book is remarkable. Here are books written by men in various walks of life, from the humble herdsman, and fisherman, to the prime minister, and king. Among its authors we find the very rich and the very poor, the preacher, the tax-gatherer, the exile, legislator, and judge, the man of brilliant education, and the upright yet poorly educated. Men of various classes are represented by this wonderful volume, which is a veritable library filled with history, astronomy, physiology, genealogy, prophecy, poetry, law, eloquence, medicine, sanitary science, political economy and perfect rules for the conduct of personal and socia1 life. What a distortion of ideas if there were not one great Source of all the knowledge which inspired the whole Book!”
It was pointed out that 1,500 years were covered in the writing of the Bible. The first writer had no communication with the last. How did those men writing independently and living under the environment of different ages, produce a book that has the same breath of harmony running from beginning to end? It was asked. It was stated that ordinary books got out of date very often in ten or twenty years. But this Book over a thousand years old before it was nearly completed, lives on through the ages, keeping abreast of the mightiest thought and intellect of the age, and is more up to date than the daily newspapers. How could such a remarkable literary phenomenon come into existence? It was asked.
MARKS OF DIVINE AUTHORSHIP
The effect of the Bible upon the individual who reads and studies it was cited as another evidence of its divine authorship. “There are men the world over who study language, astronomy, geology, mathematics, and the other sciences, but,” said Mr. Mitchell, “in the words of H. L. Hastings, I ask, ‘Did you ever hear a man say, I was an outcast, a wretched inebriate, a disgrace to my race, and a nuisance in the world, until I began to study mathematics, and learned the multiplication table, and then turned my attention to geology, got me a little hammer, and knocked off the corners of the rocks and studied the formation of the earth, and since that time I have been happy as the day is long; I feel like singing all the time; my soul is full of triumph and peace; and health and blessing have come to my desolate home once more? Did you ever hear a man ascribe his redemption and salvation from intemperance and sin and vice to the multiplication table or the science of mathematics or geology?”
“The answer to this question,” said Mr. Mitchell, “must of course be in the negative. Some of the most brilliantly educated in the sciences are moral scoundrels, and many are to be found behind the bars. But from my association with thousands of people, I know that large numbers could testify: ‘I was a wretched sinner the clutches of wickedness held me like a vice; I broke my poor mother’s heart; I disgraced my family; my wife was heart-stricken and forlorn; my children fled from the sound of my footsteps; I was ruined, hopeless, helpless, homeless, friend less, until I heard the words of that Book.”
“When we look at these facts,” concluded the speaker, “our very intelligence tells us that the Bible is no man’s book. When Columbus saw the River Orinoco, someone suggested that he had discovered an island. But the sagacious Columbus replied, ‘No such river as that flows from an island. That mighty torrent must drain the waters of a continent.’ So this Book, the Bible, with its miraculous power to change hearts and communities, comes not from the empty hearts of impostors, liars, and deceivers; it springs from the eternal depths of divine wisdom, love, and grace. It is the transcript of the divine mind, the unfolding of the divine purpose, the revelation of the divine will.”
The Bible inspires faith; Prophecy reveals it as the Word of God; Skeptics challenged.
SPEAKING on the subject, “Prophecy, the Bible’s Acid Test,” in the Naval Hall, on Tuesday night, Pastor Mitchell said that the truthfulness of the Bible can he demonstrated just as accurately as any problem in geometry, or any of the branches of mathematics. “There is one definite way of testing the accuracy of the Bible. There is one way of knowing with absolute certainty whether the Bible has been inspired by the omniscient God of the universe, or is merely the writings of good men. You can know the certainty of this,” said Mr. Mitchell “just as surely as you can be certain of the correct total of a column of figures.”
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
“Now here is the scientific method of testing the Bible,” he said. “In the study of geometry or arithmetic we commence with simple statements first. So with the testing of the Scriptures.
“Firstly, let us note this fact that will be readily grasped. No man, no matter how wise he be, can foretell with absolute accuracy events of tomorrow, of next .year, of next century, or next millennium. No human wisdom can predict with positive certainty what the condition of cities, countries and peoples will be in a thousand years time. It is beyond the power of finite men to produce scores of hundreds of such prophecies. “Now,” said the speaker, “our foundation so far is axiomatic, it needs no proof. Everybody knows that his brain is not capable of hundreds of forecasts into the dim and distant future with unerring accuracy. We need no text-books so far. However, here is one statement from a modern historian: ‘History has yet made so slight progress toward the scientific basis that she is able to foretell nothing that is to be hereafter. As to the future she is stone blind. There is not a philosopher in the world who can forecast the historical evolution to the extent of a single day. The tallest son of the morning can neither foretell nor foresee the nature of what is to come in the year that already stands knocking at the door.” John Clark Ridpath, in ‘Christian at Work,’ December 17, 1894.
“BIBLE ABOUNDS IN PROPHECY”
“Now our second step,” continued the lecturer, “is the production of evidence that the Bible literally abounds in prophecy. Some 333 prophecies foretold him hundreds of years beforehand the life, work and death of Christ, from the cradle to the grave. Every one of those predictions, without a single exception, was fulfilled to the minutest detail. Scores of additional prophecies foretold the fate of cities, towns, countries, and nations, from hundreds of years before Christ, down to our day. Approximately 300 prophecies were to herald the second coming of Christ have been fulfilled.”
“Our third step will be ascertained as we investigate’ namely, that these prophecies are not like the ancient Delphic oracles that were so worded that they could not possibly go wrong. No, the prophets of Scripture make frank statements which time would prove to be true or false.
“The fourth link in our scientific test of the accuracy of the Bible is the conclusion. The, Bible contains many hundreds of true prophecies which the span of time, from nearly three and a half millenniums ago to our day, has proved to be absolutely true. Not one has been found to be false. Therefore, inasmuch as such a stupendous task accomplished with unerring accuracy is beyond the mentality, of human beings, the power that inspired the Bible is of necessity superhuman-it is divine, it is of God.”
GOD’S CHALLENGE TO SCEPTICS
Isaiah 41:21-23 was cited as showing that God challenges critics and skeptics to forecast future events. “Who can accept the challenge?” the speaker questioned. Mr. Mitchell stated that “no one knows what will happen tomorrow morning.” He referred to his being in New Zealand at the time the city of Napier was wrecked by an earthquake. Twenty-four hours before, no one knew that the earthquake tragedy was about to wreck the city. Isaiah 46:9, 10 revealed the fact that God alone was able to declare the end from the beginning.
2 Peter 1:16-21 was cited as teaching that prophecy was evidence more reliable than one’s eyesight or bearing. The nineteenth verse was read: “We have also a more sure Word of prophecy, whereunto you do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the Day star arise in your hearts!” Commenting on the power to shine in a dark place, the speaker graphically described his visit to the glow-worm grotto in the Waitoma Caves, New Zealand. He said that in a certain section of those world-famed caves, which are now lighted by electricity, there is a certain place where the visitors step into a boat that is pulled over a small underground lake of water, during which time the lights in that section are turned off, and one marvels, in looking upward, at the spectacle of a grotto studded with hundreds of sparkling glow worms shining as jewels of light studding the roof of the grotto. The government has built a large hostel to accommodate those who come from far and near to see this wonderful sight-truly a mystic light in a dark place. “So,” it was declared, “the prophecies of sacred Scripture are the lights that light up the hidden future. Men converse, and question, and wonder, but the prophet-light emanating from God’s Word alone lights up the way!”
BIBLE EVIDENCE OVERWHELMING
The power of the prophecies to convince the honest doubter was illustrated by reading the testimony of E. A. Rowell, a converted infidel, who since his conversion has lectured for years to hundreds of thousands: “If you had been reared an infidel; if your father and mother were skeptics; if your reading on religious subjects consisted of the writings of Tom Paine, Robert Ingersoll, Voltaire, Hume, and other vaunting doubters, no one would expect you to be turned easily to a belief in the Bible. Such was my case. I began to read the Bible in order to refute its claims to be the Word of God. Against my will, and to my amazement and deep chagrin, I found the evidence in the Bible itself to be so overwhelmingly convincing, that I was compelled to believe it. Perhaps you have been told, as I was, that a person must shut his eyes and take the Bible on faith, wholly against his reason. Yet I read therein the invitation, ‘Come now, and let us reason together, said the Lord.’ Isaiah 1:19. Even to my sceptical mind this appeared to be a fair proposition; and it was utterly contrary to what my training had led me to expect.
“The Bible invited examination. Pursuing my investigation, I found that we are instructed how to proceed in studying the truth of the Bible: ‘Despise not prophesying; prove all things; hold fast that which is good.’ 1 Thessalonians 5:20, 21. Equally with Paine and Ingersoll, I had despised prophecy as clumsy guesswork; but the challenge of the Bible to test its prophecies was certainly reasonable. Nothing could be fairer.
“Nothing now remained for me but to follow the Bible instruction to prove all things pertaining to its prophecies. To disprove a false literal prophecy is the easiest thing in the world. We are now nearly nineteen hundred years this side of the latest Bible writing; and as the Bible made predictions concerning all nations that existed at the time it was written, and concerning some that were to arise many centuries later,
I was amazed, dumbfounded, overwhelmed, at the scores, even hundreds of minute, fearless prophecies reaching not a few years, but hundreds, yes, even thousands of years, into the future. The Bible speaks more certainly of the future than any historian ever spoke of the past, with all his records before him. The Bible chronicles the future is if it were past, with sure and certain knowledge.
“I read from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel relative to every known country from their day to the end of history. The daring of these prophets takes one’s breath away. In a few brief sentences, for instance, they declared that the mighty empire of Babylon, then in the heyday of its glory, would cease to exist, be absolutely forgotten, molded to dust, not be inhabited from generation to generation, be desolate for ever, and in many similar expressions stated in absolute terms the completeness of Babylon’s annihilation. These prophets burned all bridges in their predictions. There was nothing of the Delphic oracle style in their utterances. If the thing did not happen there could be no explaining it away.
“UNERRINGLY STATED FACTS”
“These prophets, with never a single mistake in hundreds of prophecies, unerringly stated the facts. From the lecture platform, before thousands of men and women, I have challenged anyone to point out a single instance in which the prophet said that a people, a city, or a nation was to be destroyed utterly, and that people, city, or nation is in existence today. Nineveh, Tyre, Babylon, Assyria, and scores of others are in the exact state the Bible said they would be in. In years of public lectures, not once did anyone accept the challenge. On the other hand, I have challenged anyone to name a city, a people, or a nation which the Bible said would continue, that has ceased to exist. Again no one attempted to dispute the Bible, or could show a single mistake.
“I proved the prophecies. They cover all the earth’s surface-’every nation and tribe and tongue and people’-and all time until its close; and in all its predictions I have never found a mistake. The fulfillment of prophecy, therefore, is the one outstanding reason why I believe the Bible. If you had been reared an infidel, would not these tested prophecies convince you that the Bible is what it claims to be? They convinced me. They have convinced many others.”
Mr. Mitchell stated that he had been trained from childhood to believe, and therefore he preferred to cite the experience of those who had been trained to disbelieve but later made a thorough examination of the Scriptures, and found that to he honest they had to acknowledge the Bible to be the Word of God. He promised to distribute free of charge the publication from which he read this experience to those who so requested.
A concluding experience was cited from H. L. Hasting’s work, “Will The Old Book Stand?” page 20. Hastings writes: “Years ago I talked with an infidel in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and he wanted me to give him some evidence that the Bible was true. After some conversation, I lent him a little volume, an abridgement of “Keith on Prophecy.’ Some ten years after, as I took my seat in a railway train, he came and sat down beside me and began to talk, and he said: ‘If you want that book, you can have it; but no one else can have it at any price.’ It had knocked his infidelity into atoms, and he was a believer in Christ, and a member of the church.”
The witness of skeptics to the truth of the Bible was the subject of an address given by Pastor Mitchell in the Naval Hall on Thursday night. It was stated that the Bible contained at least fifty clear-cut predictions concerning the land of Syria, over forty of Babylon, and that Samaria, Chaldea, Egypt, Ashkelon, Caanan, Amman, Lebanon, Tyre and other nations, countries, cities, and town were the subject of definite Bible prophecies all couched in plain language that could not be misunderstood, and that time had proved them to be fulfilled to an exactitude.
Mr. Mitchell stated that it was necessary to appeal to existing facts to know the truth of these prophecies, and, lest skeptics should question the truthfulness of his witnesses, he would depend for his historical facts principally upon skeptical travelers and writers, such as C. F. Volney, the learned French skeptical writer, and others.
Many prophecies were cited, and quotations from modern writers were read “to show that existing conditions are identical with what the Scriptures foretold,” said the speaker.
Among other pictures of Syria Isaiah 32:14 was cited: “The forts and towers shall be dens for ever.” Then the following was read from Volney’s, “Travels” page 336 “At every step we met with ruins of towers, dungeons, and castles with fosses. Frequently inhabited by Jackals, owls, and scorpions.”
Jeremiah 26:18 was cited as predicting: “Zion shall he ploughed like a field.” The record of the truth of this prophecy was cited from the historian Gibbon, Volume IV, page 100: “After the fina1 destruction of the temple by the armies of Titus and Hadrian, a ploughshare was drawn over the consecrated ground as a sign of perpetual interdiction!”
Richardson in his “Travels” was also cited as saying: “At the time when I visited this sacred spot [Mount Zion], one part of it supported a crop of barley; another was undergoing the labor of the plough.”
It was stated that Volney in his “Travels,” Volume 2, page 338, refers to the, “deserted ruins of Azkalan.” Zephaniah 2:4 was read: “Ashkelon shall be a desolation,” and Zechariah 9:5, “Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.”
THE WITNESS OF BABYLON
Speaking of Babylon, it was shown from Isaiah and Jeremiah that Babylon, then in the height of her glory, would “become heaps,” that there would be “nothing of her left,” that she would be utterly destroyed. What is the witness of those who have visited that part of the world? It was asked. The following were cited: “Vast heaps constitute all that now remains of ancient Babylon.” (Keppel’s “Narrative,” Vol. I, page 196) “Nothing is now left but heaps of earth and fragments of brick,” was cited from Mignan’s “Travels,” pages 199, 200.
Another prophecy concerning Babylon was read from Isaiah 13:20: “It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there. Neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.” Mr. Mitchell commented on this daring prophecy; but he declared that those who had traveled there bore witness to the truth of every point of it. Many explorers and excavators of recent years reported that it was impossible to get Arabs to remain on the site of that ancient city overnight. From Mignan’s “Travels” it was shown that, though he was accompanied to that site by six Arabs fully armed, he could not induce them to remain after the sun began to set, “from apprehension of evil spirits.”
Mr. Mitchell pointed out that the American who coined the word agnostic for himself, Thomas Huxley, after criticizing the Bible during the, greater part of his life, saw some value in it towards the end of his life. A quotation from Huxley’s “Science and Education,” page 398, was read: “By the study of what other book could children be so much humanized and made to feel that each figure in that vast historical procession fills, like themselves, but a momentary space in the interval between two eternities; and earns the blessings or the curses of all time, according to its effort to do good and hate evil?”
DOMINANT FIGURE IN HISTORY
The well-known modern historian, H. G. Wells, was quoted, from writings he had published in the “American Magazine” of 1922, as saying: “Jesus of Nazareth is easily the dominant figure in history. Now it is interesting and significant, isn’t it? that a historian setting forth in that spirit, without any theological bias whatever, should find that he simply cannot portray the progress of humanity honestly without giving the foremost place to a penniless Teacher from Nazareth. More than nineteen hundred years later, a historian like myself, who does not even call himself a Christian, finds the picture centering irresistibly around the life and character of this simple, lovable Man.
“So the historian, disregarding the theological significance of His life, writes the name of Jesus of Nazareth at the top of the world’s greatest characters.”
Another prominent character quoted as testifying at least in a portion of his writings was W. H. L. Mencken, editor of the American Mercury, and author of a number of very modernly rationalistic books. From his book, published in 1930, “Treatise on the Gods,” the following was read: “The historicity of Jesus is no longer questioned seriously by anyone, whether believer or unbeliever. The main facts about Him seem to be beyond dispute.
“The Bible is unquestionably the most beautiful book in the world. Allow everything you please-no other literature, old or new, can offer a match to it.
“Nearly all of it comes from the Jews, and their making of it constitutes one of the most astounding phenomena in human history. I incline to believe that the scene recounted in John 8:3-11 is the most poignant drama ever written in the world, as the Song of Solomon is unquestionably the most moving love song, and the twenty-third psalm the greatest of hymns.
‘All these transcendent riches Christianity inherits from a tribe of sedentary bedouins, so obscure and unimportant that secular history scarcely knows them. No heritage of modern man is richer and none has made a more brilliant mark upon human thought, not even the legacy of the Greeks.
“The story of Jesus is touching beyond compare. It is indeed the most lovely story ever devised. Beside it the best that you will find in sacred literature of Moslem and Brahman, Parsee and Buddhist, seems flat, stale, and unprofitable.”
Much more could be quoted from those two writers, Wells and Mencken, Mr. Mitchell stated, and they were men living today, who did not claim to be Christians, but gave their honest testimony to what they saw of value in the sacred writings of the Book we call the Holy Bible.
Bible stakes claim to credence on prophetic accuracy.
A LECTURE delivered in the Naval Hall on Sunday night on the subject, “Infidelity Challenged and Refuted,” was out of the ordinary in that some of the audience availed themselves of the opportunity of interjecting during the address, according to, the special privilege extended by the speaker in welcoming any question or statement relevant to the subject during the lecture.
In his opening remarks, Pastor Mitchell said. “I do not challenge infidelity or infidels; nor do I expect to refute infidels nor infidelity. Nevertheless doubters will be challenged and skepticism refuted, but not by me. The scoffers and unbelievers of today were challenged, and refuted, many hundreds of years ago, by One infinitely wiser than I. It will be my part to set before you certain facts. You will be given an opportunity to admit them, or invited to deny them if you can. Since every opportunity is granted to question the statements made, since you are freely invited, even urged, to interrupt the speaker at any time with inquiries or denials, your silence will be taken as assent to my statements. Is that fair?” A voice from the audience said, “Yes, that’s fair enough.”
Mr. Mitchell. added: “I shall assume that we are all doubters.” He then declared that he would be as fully anxious to receive help as to aid his audience. “This is far too serious a matter for us to dare risk remaining in error,” he said. He then encouraged his listeners to look for flaws in his reasoning, and fearlessly point them out. ‘Failing to find any, I assume that you will as fearlessly accept the inevitable conclusion,” he said. After questioning the audience for their approval of that procedure, someone responded, “That’s fair, provided you keep to that agreement.”
BIBLE INVITES SCRUTINY
Holding up a book, the speaker said: “Here is a book called the Bible. Unique claims are made for it. Millions have cheerfully suffered horrible deaths rather than deny it or disregard its teachings, and other millions are still ready to follow their example.” He contended that such a book should be worthy of the most careful examination. It was also shown that the Bible invited scrutiny. “Despise not prophesying. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good,” was read from 1 Thessalonians 5:20, 21. “How are we to test this Book? What part is most vulnerable? Wherein does it differ from other books?” the speaker asked. It was also pointed out that the most skeptical mind should admit the fairness of the invitation of Isaiah 1:18, “Come, let us reason together.” Do the writers of the Bible especially invite us to test any particular part? And in answering it was shown that the Bible staked its whole claim to credence on the accuracy of its prophecies. It was claimed that Peter in his epistle considered prophetic evidence more certain than the audible demonstration of the presence of Jesus. 2 Peter 1:16-20.
CLARITY OF PROPHECY
A voice from the audience: “Is prophecy vague, or clear and definite?”
The answer given was that it was only vague to those who did not study it sufficiently. To illustrate, the speaker said: “When one takes up a text-book on geometry for the first time, and glances at some advanced theorem, it would be easy for one to defend his lack of understanding by declaring geometry to be vague; yet it is the most crystal clear of all sciences. So it was with prophecy.” He claimed that prophecy was as rigidly demonstrable as geometry. Comparing prophecy with miracles, it was contended that while doubters, looking back through the mists of time, doubted the miracles that occurred nearly 2,000 years ago, Bible prophecy-the earliest given 3,300 years ago, and the latest 1,900 years ago-had been fulfilling all the time even to our day, and was verified by history, and as-recognized by the skeptic Hume, Mr. Mitchell said, prophecy accurately fulfilled was the greatest of all miracles.
Mr. Mitchell added: “If the Bible claim to make genuine predictions is true, it is a miracle of foresight, far beyond the ability of human sagacity to discern, or to calculate, and is the highest evidence of the supernatural knowledge of the prophet.” Further, he said, “human beings can as easily pluck the stars from the Milky Way as they can wrest from the future its secrets.”
A voice from the audience asked whether it was possible to predict the results of the coming local government election. It. was answered that that would not be known till the votes were counted.
GOD’S CHALLENGE TO SCEPTICS
From the Book of Isaiah it was asserted that God claimed to be the only one capable of predicting the future correctly. The challenge issued by God to skeptics to “Produce your cause, show the things that are to come-show us what shall happen,” was also read from Isaiah 41. To accept this challenge the unbelievers must first disprove the prophecies of Scripture, and, secondly, produce another book filled with genuine prophecies.
A voice from the audience questioned regarding the accurate forecast of eclipses. In answer the speaker pointed out that that was simply the result of knowing the exact cycles in which the planetary bodies move. Another voice from the audience stated that that was evidence of the accuracy of the movements of the heavenly bodies, and signified a Creator. The speaker stated that he would say more about that next Sunday night when dealing with the question of creation compared with the evolution theory.
Proceeding with the lecture, Mr. Mitchell contrasted the vast difference between forecasting eclipses and the prophecy concerning whole nations, cities, peoples. He asked: “Is there one here that claims that prophecies similar to those found in the Bible can be made by the ordinary man? Will anyone here attempt to do it? Is there a single soul who will point out a single instance in which Bible prophecy said that a people, a city, or nation would cease to exist, and that people, city, or nation is in existence today? Nineveh, Tyre, Babylon, Assyria, and scores of others are in the exact state the Bible said they would be. On the other hand,” he said, “name a people, city, or nation that the Bible said would continue, that has ceased to exist.”
PROPHETIC ACCURACY
Several “definite instances” of prophetic accuracy were cited. It was quoted from Ezekiel’s prophecy that the city of Tyre would cease to exist, and that not even the ruins would remain, but would be cast into the sea. It was stated that Tyre was at the time of the prophecy the London of Asia, the maritime centre of Asia; but that the prophecy had been literally fulfilled by Alexander and his soldiers in their attack on Tyre in AD 332 on the island city half a mile from the mainland, the site of old Tyre (the ruins of which remained since the thirteen years’ siege of the Babylonians), in search of materials to build a causeway to the island city the attackers not only used every particle of brick and timber of the ruins of Tyre, but even gathered up the earth, leaving the foundations of rock, exactly as predicted hundreds of years before, in Ezekiel, chapter 26.
The prophecies concerning Sidon, a city thirty miles from Tyre, were also given. It was stated that this city still remained, as the prophecy indicated, though besieged almost as often as Jerusalem. How was it that the prophet was exact in both cases? it was asked.
The city of Ashkelon was also cited, that it was to be desolate. A quotation from the Encyclopedia Britannica, fourteenth edition, Volume II, page 544, was read, referring to this city as “Now a desolate site on a seacoast twelve miles north of Gaza-the remnants of ruined buildings and broken walls bear ample testimony to a past magnificence.”
EGYPT’S DEPARTED GLORY
Reference was made to Ezekiel’s prophecy concerning Egypt as descending from its pinnacle of fame, boasting a longer unbroken line of kings than did any other nation, and at the time of Ezekiel’s prophecy being the granary of the world, eminent in science, arts, luxury, magnificence, a leader in civilization, descending to the status of a base kingdom, ruled by strangers, but still existing, whereas Babylon and other powers were to cease to exist. It was claimed that Egypt was exactly as the prophecy of Ezekiel foretold, the present ruler and his ancestors for generations not being of Egyptian blood, thus. fulfilling the prophecy of Ezekiel, chapter 30, “there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt.”
The lecturer concluded with an illustration. He stated that Robert Ingersoll, the famous skeptic, and Henry Ward Beecher, the great preacher, were friends. Visiting the study of the famous minister, Ingersoll was seen turning and admiring an elaborate globe. “That is just what I want,” he said. “Who made it?” “Who made it? do you ask, Colonel,” repeated Beecher in mock astonishment. “Who made this globe? Why, nobody, of course. It just happened!”
Likewise it was declared that too often, while men must admit the recorded historical fulfillment of prophecy, yet when driven from one insufficient explanation to another, being loath to give God the glory, their final insufficient solution to this supernatural phenomena was that “it just happened,” instead of accepting the inevitable conclusion that the Bible prophecies proved that they were from God.
The preacher received his inspiration for this sermon from the book, “John Emerson’s Quandary,” by E. A. Rowell, and urges that readers secure a copy; obtainable from publishers of this book.
Archeology as witness to accuracy; Reply to criticism.
“As prophecy proves the divine inspiration of the Bible, so archaeology proves its minute and accurate truthfulness,” stated Pastor Mitchell in an address on Archeology and the Bible in the Naval Hall on Tuesday night. Luke 19:40 was read: “And He answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” It was stated that stones unearthed by the pick and spade were crying out as a witness to the accuracy of the Bible today as never before, and that they begin to speak at a time when their message was most needed.
For centuries, said Pastor Mitchell, the Bible Was recognized as the Word of God, but, toward the close of the eighteenth century, atheism was making a bold bid to overthrow Christianity and uproot the confidence of men in the authenticity of the Word of God. Higher criticism had developed a system of negation and denial, that cast doubt upon all historical and geographical portions of the Old and New Testaments which could not be corroborated by contemporaneous evidence. The critics said that the Bible record of the Hittite nation was a myth, because they did not read about Hittites in any other book. King Sargon mentioned in Isaiah 20:1 was said to be mythological because there was no other reference to him in all the world. Belshazzar of the Book of Daniel was also denied a place in the annals of history.
“UNFAIR CRITICISM”
The unfair criticism that the late eighteenth and nineteenth century launched against the Bible was illustrated by the speaker as similar to condemning a man as guilty with no genuine evidence, until he proved himself innocent. Because the Bible was more complete than any ancient book, discussing much that was not elsewhere dealt with, the critics condemned it without reason or evidence as belonging to the legendary fogs and mists of antiquity. From statements read it was contended that this system of higher criticism was affecting leading theologians. Their faith was being shaken, and some were beginning to believe that no difference existed between the inspiration of the Bible and the inspiration of Milton or Shakespeare or Bacon. When leading theologians held their peace, the very stones began to cry out in vindication of the truths of the Word of God.
KEYSTONES, SPEAK
Mr. Mitchell then declared that the ancient nations contained all the evidence necessary to prove the accuracy of the records of Scripture in their priceless archeological treasures unearthed and being unearthed; but, like precious archives hidden in a locked casket, the world awaited the key to open the secrets of the monumental inscriptions written in the ancient languages. And at the time most needed the keystones arose and spoke a message that opened up a world of ancient knowledge.
The speaker then referred to the remarkable discovery of the Rosetta stone in 1798, by a French soldier near Rosetta, a seaport in Egypt. It was at the time of the Napoleonic wars. After the British defeated Napoleon, this stone passed into the hands of the British, and is now in the British Museum; it is one of the most interesting stones in the world. This stone has an inscription written in three different languages, the ancient hieroglyphic language of Egypt, the Egyptian demotic language as used in later writing, and the Greek. It proved to be the key that unlocked the records of the past as engraved on the monuments of Egypt.
The Behistun inscription, discovered by Sir Henry Rawlinson on the great rock in Kurdistan in 1835, was also mentioned. This became the second key to ancient knowledge, its message being written in three other languages, the ancient Persian, Assyrian, and Babylonian. It proved to be the key which unlocked the royal library of Nineveh, discovered ten years later by Sir Henry Layard, and countless other specimens of the peculiar wedge-shaped writing in common use centuries before Abraham.
Reference was also made to the Moabite stone discovered by Dr. Klein in 1869, as another key containing an inscription in letters of the Phoenician alphabet, giving the precise mode of writing employed by the earlier prophets of the Old Testament. Almost every line of the inscription was linked with the geography or history of the Bible, illustrating many hitherto obscure points.
Another helpful discovery referred to was that of abundance of sheets of papyrus found in Egypt, bearing writings in the identical language in which the New Testament was written. Many valuable papyri of the second century B.C. revealed the fact that the Greek of the New Testament, formerly criticized so freely, was the language of the common people, and was therefore the language in which the Holy Spirit could best make known the messages of God to the world at that time.
COMPLETE HARMONY
Having the keys to the treasures of archaeological discovery, it was stated that we now had abundance of historical records contemporaneous with the writings of Scripture, with almost all the historical characters and events of the Old Testament. But the most remarkable feature about all this extra knowledge was that not once had any historical or geographical event, person, or location mentioned in the Bible been found to be out of harmony with the records of the discovered monuments. On the other hand, it was contended, the higher critics and unbelievers had been silenced by the voice of the stones. The record of the Hittite nation, lost to the knowledge of the world except for the Bible, had been unearthed. Likewise every other character that the critics had condemned as mythical had now been proved to be exactly as the Bible had stated.
Referring to Sargon, the king mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, it was declared that in 1842 the archaeologist, P. E. Botta, was sent-out by the French Government to the city of Mosul in the upper Tigris. He was directed to the village of Khorsabad by one of his workmen, and began operations on a curious hill. Just under the surface he discovered a wall built of gypsum. He discovered room after room, chamber after chamber. The whole archaeological world was aroused. Money flowed in to assist him, until the most magnificent palace the world has ever seen, covering twenty-five acres, was exposed to view. Botta had unearthed the palace of the great King Sargon, the so-called mythical monarch of the higher critics, “another instance,” said Mr. Mitchell, “of the stones crying out, telling the world that the Bible is correct, and it is the critics who are ignorant.”
BLAZONING THE TRUTH
Professor Sayce, LL.D., D.D., the eminent Assyriologist and author, was quoted as writing: “A skeptical attitude towards the records of the Old and New Testaments is today usually the mark of ignorance or semi-knowledge. The leading scientists have returned in great measure to what may be termed the traditional views on the subject, and nowhere is this more strikingly the case than as regards the historical records of Scripture.” (From a letter read in a meeting in the Albert Hall, London, 1923)
Sir William Mitchell Ramsay, D.C.L., Litt.D., in a speech made at the same time in the above-mentioned hall, was quoted as saying: “Do not deceive yourselves with the pretence that these narratives are mythological tales hiding a beautiful truth. The Christian religion blazons the truth, it placards it before the eyes of men; it does not hide it.”
Dr. Sayce was also quoted as, saying in “Monument Facts”: “There is only one admissible test of the authenticity and trustworthiness of an ancient record, and that is the archeological test, in other words, the test of contemporaneous evidence.” “Wherever archeology has been able to test the negative conclusions of criticism, they have dissolved like a bubble in the air.” - Pages 11, 14, 25.
From the pen of the late Professor R. D. Wilson, the famous Oriental linguist, who mastered twenty-six languages in his more than fifty years, prodigious task of examining all the available evidence in ancient literature, in order to ascertain whether the Bible was really trustworthy and accurate, the following was cited: “I have now come to the conclusion that no man knows enough to assail the truthfulness of the Old Testament. Wherever there is sufficient documentary evidence to make an investigation, the statements of the Bible in the original text have stood the test.” – “Is the Higher Criticism Scholarly?” page 10.
No need whatever for antagonism; The people’s Book.
SPEAKING on the subject, “Communism and the Bible,” in the Naval Hall on Thursday night, Pastor Mitchell contended that Communists are at war with the Bible because of their lack of knowledge of its teachings. He maintained that almost all cases of antagonism to the Bible sprang from ignorance of its contents.
He stated that from his association with Communists he gathered that many of them considered that the Bible was a capitalistic book. “I agree,” he said, “that the Bible is indeed a capitalist book, but not a book that favored capitalists; it rather favors the poor.”
It was the speaker’s conviction that while there were many sincere hearts among the Communists, yet they were too prone to get their ideas from enemy sources, rather than to study the Bible for themselves. He recollected what he quoted as a typical case met in his evangelical work in the city of Newcastle, back in the year 1925. He had often conversed with this very militant representative, who, though antagonistic, refused to study the Bible for himself, excusing. himself by saying that the Labor Daily was his Bible.
A TREASURED VOLUME
Mr. Mitchell stated that in the year 1869, Russia, at that time a Bible-loving nation, paid 900 pounds to the monks of St. Catherine’s monastery, located at the foot of Mount Sinai, for the treasured Bible manuscript, Codex Sinaiticus. This manuscript was treasured because of its antiquity, being a fourth-century Greek manuscript; and, together with the Vatican and Alexandrian manuscripts, is of outstanding importance among the ancient copies of Scripture. But sixty-four years later Russia had so completely changed that no Bibles were wanted in the country. What would they do with this historic treasure? Would they destroy it? On second thought it was offered for sale, and the people of another nation, Great Britain, paid 100,000 pounds for this treasured volume, and considered the price cheap.
What had wrought the change? It certainly was not the result of nation-wide reading of the Bible, but rather the absence of first-hand knowledge by the majority, and the acceptance of the critical views of a few militant leaders, inspired by the teachings of Karl Marx.
Karl Marx, it was declared, was a radical revolutionary writer, who lived from 1818 to 1883, and whose principal book, “Das Kapital,” was an attack upon capitalist ownership of private property.
LACK OF KNOWLEDGE
Pursuing the thought that lack of knowledge was the cause of antagonism, the following illustration was read from “The Common Bond,” published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1935:-
“A New Master. The Communist owner of a cafe at Piraeus in Greece bought a Bible from our colporteur. He started to read it earnestly, and from time to time requested the colporteur to explain passages he could not understand. He had been a thorough-going atheist, believing that the Bible encouraged the exploitation of the poor by the rich. After our representative had explained to him how our Lord came to this earth as a Man who had not where to lay his head, he continued to read the Bible and became convinced that it was the truth. The result was that this man, who was once preaching Lenin as the savior of mankind, now preaches Christ, and testifies to his friends of his change of outlook.”
“FRIEND OF POOR AND NEEDY”
Several scriptures were read to show that the Bible was a book for the servant as well as for the palace. It was emphasized that Christ, the central figure of the Bible, was the friend of the poor and needy. James 2:5 was read: “Has not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom?” From Ezekiel 16:49 it was asserted that one reason for the destruction of the city of Sodom was because of neglect to “strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.” “You shall not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy,” was read from Deuteronomy 24:14.
Other scriptures were cited to support the statement that while the Bible upheld the cause of the poor, it uttered grave warnings to the rich, such as, “Woe unto you that are rich.” Luke 6:24. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Mark 10:25. The Scriptural advice to the wealthy was read from 1 Timothy 6:17, 18: “Charge them that are rich in this world that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.”
In view of such teaching, it was stated that, instead of the Bible being the enemy, it was the friend of the poor. “Unfortunately,” said the speaker, “both rich .and poor have neglected to a certain extent the teaching of the Bible, but if followed more completely it will lead to a much kindlier feeling between both.”
THE BIBLE’S INFLUENCE
Another illustration of how the Bible strengthens and encourages the poor was read from “The Common Bond,” page 68: “One day a colporteur was crossing a bridge over a railway line. A man was leaning on the parapet. Like the one who was struck down on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, he had been wounded in life and was lying, as it were, bleeding by the wayside. He intended to end his life by throwing himself under a train, for his misery was too great for him to bear. The colporteur got into conversation with him; the poor wretch opened his heart to the stranger who showed an interest in him. He spoke of his old age, his unemployment, of his complete discouragement. The Bible-seller had neither silver nor gold to offer him, but he gave him what he had-his sympathy and friendship. He spoke of Jesus, and the man left the dangerous spot and went away thoughtful. When later the two men met again, the would-be suicide said: ‘It is the Bible that saved me, renewed my courage, and gave me strength to go on living.”
That the Bible if followed is a blessing to all mankind was taught in the words of Dr. Adolf Deismann: “The New Testament is the people’s book. When Luther, therefore, took the New Testament from the learned and gave it to the people, we can only regard him as restoring what was the people’s own. And when at some tiny, cottage window, behind the fuchsias and geraniums, we see an old dame bending over the New Testament, there the Old Book has found a place to which by right of its nature it belongs. Or when a Red Cross sister finds a Japanese Testament in the knapsack of a wounded Japanese, here, too, the surroundings are appropriate. Time has transformed the Book of the People into the Book of Humanity.”
Crucifixion and resurrection of Christ foretold in Bible; Historical evidence of resurrection.
EASTER lectures delivered by Pastor Mitchell in the Naval Hall dealt with Easter in prophecy and the testimony of history to the fact of the resurrection of Christ. Prior to Christ’s earthly mission, faith in His coming was expressed by the annual sacrifice of the Passover lamb, offered on a fixed month, day, and hour of every year, which sacrifice was the type of the predicted sacrifice of Christ.
It was contended from the Messianic prophecies of Daniel that the very year of the crucifixion of Christ was foretold hundreds of years beforehand. And from the New Testament records and dates the year as prophesied was the exact year in which Christ was crucified. And the day of the year was the day in which ordinarily the Passover lamb would have been slain. Christ, the true vicarious and antitypical lamb, was slain instead, and that very day the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom, signifying the fact that type had met antitype, and that there was no further need for animal sacrifices. Thus Mr. Mitchell claimed that the exact year, month, day, and hour of the atoning death of Christ had been accurately foretold in the prophecies of the Old Testament centuries before hand.
RESURRECTION A FACT
In a later address, discussing the subject, “Did Christ Live, Die, and Rise Again?” Mr. Mitchell claimed that no fact was so completely established in history as the resurrection of Christ. Dr. Alexander Campbell was cited as saying it was “the best-attested fact in the annals of the world!”
Modern scholarship did not deny the birth of Christ, nor His death. That much, that Jesus lived and died, was admitted even by non-Christians. But that was not sufficient to explain the existence of the Christian church, it was affirmed.
If Christ’s career had ended with His death, the Christian faith would have remained with Christ in Joseph’s new tomb. The buoyant hope of the followers of Christ in their disappointment would have encountered an anti-climax from which it would not have recovered.
The speaker contended that while other beliefs Such as Mohammedanism continued after the death of its founder, Christianity was different in that it was the only religion ever established upon the death and resurrection of its author.
Several scriptures were cited showing that Christ had predicted His resurrection on the third day after the crucifixion. Further scriptures revealed the disappointment of the disciples at the death of Him to whom they had looked to establish a kingdom on earth at that time. Reference was made to His unexpected death and burial on Easter Friday, to the sad Sabbath day that followed, and the forlorn visit to the tomb on the Sunday morning, as recorded in Luke, chapters 23 and 24.
FAITH IN THE RISEN
Their hopelessness changed only with the knowledge of the resurrection. Easter Sunday morning had found the little band of Christians hopeless. By night they were a group of men and women holding a belief that had since turned the world upside down, changed the course of history, transformed whole nations, and still dominates the minds of men. That belief was the belief that Christ was raised from the dead.
Mr. Mitchell then proceeded to outline the evidence of the resurrection. He firstly referred to the many appearances of Christ after the resurrection. The women at the sepulcher received the message from the angel, “He is not here; He is risen.” Matthew 28:6. Later Jesus appeared to these women, who were the first to proclaim the gospel of a risen Savior. Luke 24 recorded the appearing of Christ to two of the disciples as they journeyed on Easter Sunday to the village of Emmaus. That evening He appeared to all the disciples except Thomas, and dined with them. Then after eight days He appeared to all the eleven disciples; then later again to seven of them by the sea of Tiberias. Then 1 Corinthians 15:6 was read to show how that “after that, He was seen of above 500 brethren at once.” He was seen and handled by the doubting Thomas and others, and conversed. Paul’s statement in Acts 26:26 was read, in which he stated, “This thing was not done in a corner.”
A LIVING TESTIMONY
The living evidence of Christ’s resurrection today, it was declared, was the existence of Christianity throughout the world. No one denied that Mohammed had lived, because 220,000,000 followers and believers in Mohammed were living evidence. So Mr. Mitchell contended that Christianity today was a living, testimony. The fact that that small band of disciples, inspired with new hope only after the knowledge of the resurrection of Christ, had grown from a handful of believers into some 220,000,000 embracing all countries of the world, was living proof that Jesus not only lived and died, but rose again. Not the empty tomb, but the resurrected Savior, was the all-conquering power behind Christianity; and the resurrection of Christ, the speaker explained, was the hope of His followers.
Revelation 1:18 was quoted: “I am He that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Death was not a hopeless horror to the Christian when he knew the Savior, who carried the keys.
VICTORY OVER DEATH
It was related that someone asked Emerson, “Could you say, ‘I am the resurrection and the life’?” Emerson, “Yes.” ‘Well, could you make anyone believe it?” was the next question asked. Men believed Christ, for in addition to His divine mission, He had given a demonstration of victory over death.
The words of Napoleon spoken on St. Helena were cited: “You speak of Caesar, Alexander; of their conquests; of the enthusiasm they enkindled in the hearts of their soldiers; but can you conceive of a dead man making conquests with an army faithful and entirely devoted to his memory? My army has forgotten me while living. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force I Jesus Christ alone founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him. I have so inspired multitudes that they would die for me-but after an, my presence was necessary-the lightning of my eye, my voice, a word from me -then the sacred fire was kindled in their hearts. Now that I am at St. Helena, alone, chained upon this rock, who fights and wins empires for me? What an abyss between my deep misery and the eternal reign of Christ, who is proclaimed, loved, adored, and whose reign is extending over all the earth!”
Christianity and skepticism contrasted; What has the skeptic to offer?
Hear Ingersoll’s famous funeral sermon.
“I ALWAYS prefer keeping to the affirmative side of Christianity, and it is with reluctance that I enter the citadel of skepticism in order to attack its defenses; but, since the skeptic endeavors to destroy Christianity, I see no escape from a careful examination of what he has to offer the Christian in its place,” was the opening remark made by Pastor Mitchell, in discussing the subject, “Christianity and Skepticism. What Has the Skeptic to Offer?” in the Naval Hall, on Sunday night.
When the unbeliever, skeptic, or infidel, spends his lifetime educating himself to doubt the truths of Scripture, he said, it would be strange indeed if he did not find some peg upon which he felt content to hang the hat of doubt, but in order to find that peg he must search a thousand other pegs of intelligent belief.
PATHETIC MENTAL OBSTINACY
Reference was made to John 20:25-29, which records the experience of doubting Thomas. Thomas could not believe that Christ had risen. But when he saw the nail prints in the hands of the Savior, he exclaimed: “My Lord and my God.” Mr. Mitchell contended that nail prints for honest doubters were still available, as shown in previous lectures. But it was his belief that some were so strongly educated to doubt that, even when they see the nail prints, their doubts persist. The speaker regarded such mental obstinacy as pathetic. He read the words of Luke 16:31: “If they believe not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead,” as illustrating the extent to which skepticism can develop.
It was affirmed that the skeptic will accept nothing nor believe it until he can understand it. The lecturer contended that if the skeptic were really sincere in that matter he would refuse to eat. For did he understand the intricate workings of the machinery of his own body and its mystic power that transformed that food into skin, flesh, muscle, teeth, nails, bones, sinews, nerves, gastric juices, and the other elements of his own body?
THE POWER OF FAITH
The skeptic objected to Christianity, it was further stated, because so much had to be accepted by faith. But it was explained that all mankind was accepting hundreds of things by faith every day, apart from Christianity. All knowledge of geography and history, apart from what one has seen, was accepted by faith in the verbal or written testimony of others. The astronomer believed in the incomprehensible infinity of space and the law of planetary attraction. Mathematicians believe in axioms, chemists in cosmic ether, and natural scientists in invisible natural laws and forces. Many things which could be neither seen nor proved were accepted as facts. A quotation from an article by Edison, who has been called “the high priest of science,” from the Lon-don Magazine of March, 1921, was read: “We don’t know one-millionth of one per cent about anything. Why, we don’t even know what water is. We don’t know what life is. We don’t know what enables us to keep on our feet, to stand upright. We don’t know what heat is. We don’t know anything about magnetism. We have a lot of hypotheses, that is all.”
Suppose,” said the speaker, “that I ask an infidel who apparently lives a good outward life to prove that he is an infidel, or suppose I ask him to prove that he ever had a headache, or toothache, or colic; can he do it?”
Now with regard to Christianity, Mr. Mitchell agreed that it was necessary to have faith, very necessary, but not a blind faith.
The words of Hebrews 11:6 were read: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewards them that diligently seek Him!” Also 1 John 5:4: “For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith!”
THE BASIS OF BELIEF
But it was declared from 1 Peter 3:18 that the Christian is exhorted to give a “reason” for his belief. As shown in previous lectures, Mr. Mitchell said, fulfilling prophecy, archeology, and a world of evidence was the reasonable foundation upon which intelligent faith rested. It was stated that neither the Bible nor the God of the Bible required mankind to believe without supplying a world of evidence upon which to base that belief. The position of one who could not believe under those conditions was considered by the speaker as pathetic.
The fact that skeptics were capable of accepting other things by faith was evidence, he said, that the Bible, though admittedly the best book in the world, was singled out by skeptics as their text-book for http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auhttp://www.ThreeAngels.com.auskepticism. If the Bible was found in the burglar’s tool kit, or as a marked treasure in the portmanteau carried by the professional criminal, then the preacher claimed that it would be easier to understand the skeptic‘ s’ position, “but as it is,” he said, “I fear the skeptics’ position is an unenviable one.”
THE MAN WHO DOES NOT KNOW
Pursuing the expression that the skeptics’ position is not to be envied, Mr. Mitchell said, “Listen to the expression of his feelings, when he really takes you into his confidence.” He then read a statement from the pen of W. O. Saunders, published in the American Magazine for November, 1930, beginning on page 23: “I would have you meet one of the most lonesome and most unhappy individuals on earth. I am talking about the man who doesn’t believe in God. I am not asking you to meet the man who denies there is a God, the atheist; I am asking you to meet that wistful, pathetic, and lonely fellow who says he does not know, the agnostic, the man who has no God. Some call him an infidel.”
“I am peculiarly qualified to introduce the agnostic. I am an agnostic myself. Out of my own life, my own heart, and my own mind I write this. In introducing myself, you will have an introduction to the agnostic in your own neighborhood, for he is everywhere in the land.
“Probably you will be surprised to know that the agnostic envies you your faith in God, your settled belief in a heaven after death, and your blessed assurance that you will meet with your loved ones in an after life in which there will be neither sorrow nor pain. He would give anything to be able to embrace that faith and be comforted by it.
“For him there is only the grave and the persistence of matter. As he can see beyond the grave is the disintegration of the protoplasm and psychoplasm of which his body and its personality are composed.
“But in this material view I find no ecstasy nor happiness. Is this the end of all human life and endeavor? Therefore would I try to convey to your mind and heart something of the wistfulness and loneliness of the man who does not believe in God.
“Your agnostic may put on a brave front and face life with heroic smiles. But he is not happy-standing in awe and reverence before the vastness and majesty of the universe, knowing not whence he came nor why, appalled by the stupendous vastness of space and the infinitude of time, humiliated by the infinite smallness of himself, cognizant of his frailty, his weakness and brevity, think you not that he, too, sometimes yearns for a staff on which to lean? He, too, carries a cross.
“Your agnostic is tremendously impressed by the power of your faith. He has seen drunkards and libertines and moral degenerates transfigured by it. He has seen the sick, the aged, and the friendless comforted and sustained by it. And he is impressed by your wonderful charities, your asylums, your hospitals, your nurseries, your schools. He must shamefacedly admit that agnostics, as such, have built few hospitals, and few homes for orphans.
“To him this earth is but a tricky raft adrift upon the unfathomable waters of eternity, with no horizon in sight. His heart aches for every precious life on the raft, drifting, drifting, drifting, whither no one for a certainty knows.
“You have met one of the most lonesome and most unhappy individuals on earth.”
A DESPAIRING CRY
“What then has the infidel to offer?” asked Mr. Mitchell. “Mr. Saunders has given you the answer. But I now ask you to listen to the words of another whose name will be more familiar to your ear. I refer to the renowned skeptic, Robert Ingersoll. In the face of the majesty of death, at the graveside of a dearly loved brother, the veil of the mind was torn aside, and he uttered those famous words that have circled the earth: ‘Whether in mid-sea or among the breakers of the farther shore, a wreck must mark at last the end of each and all. And every life, no matter if its every hour is rich with love and every moment jeweled with joy, will, at its close, become a tragedy, as sad, and deep, and dark as can be woven of the warp and woof of mystery and death. Life is a narrow vale between two eternities. We strive in vain to look beyond the heights. We cry aloud, and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry.”
The preacher in closing contrasted this with the bright hope of the resurrection, and eternal life through the Christ of Christianity.
“From 603 BC to Eternity,” was the subject of an arresting prophetic lecture sermon delivered by Pastor Mitchell in the Naval Hall on Sunday night. He commenced with an. interesting question:-
“How many here this evening would undertake the task of writing the outstanding world events, including the rise and fall of empires, for 2,500 years in advance? Such a remarkably brief, yet comprehensive history in advance would command the thoughtful attention of the most profound scholar,” said Pastor Mitchell. “Just such a remarkable prophetic composition exists. It was written shortly after the establishment of the mighty Babylonian empire, 603 BC. Our time tonight will surely be well spent, for we are now to study this astounding superhuman literary phenomenon.
“More than one historian has found difficulty in recording history briefly. When young Prince Zemir succeeded his father on the throne of Persia he summoned an assembly of his most learned men, to prepare for him a history of the world, so that he, as ruler, might be guided by the wisdom of the past.
“Alter ‘twenty years the learned men with a caravan of twelve camels, each bearing five hundred volumes, came into the presence of the king. Their secretary made a short speech and presented the 6,000 volumes. The king, fully occupied with the affairs of state, expressed his gratitude. But he said, ‘I am now middle aged, and even if I live to be old, I shall not have time to read such a long history. Abridge it!’
“Twenty more years, then three camels bore 1,500 volumes,to the king; but the king said, ‘I am now an old man. Abridge further, and with all possible speed!’ After the lapse of ten years, a young elephant carried their abbreviated work, this time of 500 volumes. ‘This time we have been exceedingly brief,’ they said. ‘Not yet sufficiently so’, replied the king. My life is almost over. Abridge again!’ But when, after five years passed in the fourth laborious attempt, the secretary returned alone, walking with crutches, leading a small ass, whose load was one book, the king was dying and could not read it.
HISTORY IN ADVANCE
“Now where do you suppose we will find the world history in advance? There is but one book whose writings have peered into the future, millenniums ahead. We now turn to that Book which revels in the humanly impossible, finding the composition worthy of the study of sages, in the Book of Daniel, chapter 2.
“Our message is the interpretation by a prophet of God, of a God-given dream to King Nebuchadnezzar at the time when his kingdom, Babylon, held universal sway. After the failure of the other wise men of the kingdom to retell and interpret the dream, Daniel is seen coming in before the king. He bears a God-received explanation stating, ‘There is a God in heaven that revealed secrets and makes known ... what shall be in the latter days.’ This message, then, reaches right on to our time, ‘the latter days.’ That is why I am interested, and call your attention to it at this time.
“Daniel reminded the king that the subject of the dream, which had so disturbed his peace of mind that he had threatened death if the wise men failed to explain it, was a huge metallic image. The image was composed of a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, sides of brass, legs of iron, and feet of mingled iron and clay. Then the whole image is broken to pieces by a stone, ‘cut out without hands.’ The stone then develops, and fills the whole earth. ‘This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof,’ said Daniel.
“Daniel starts with the golden head, representing Nebuchadnezzar’s empire. With the words of Daniel 2:38 - addressed to the king of Babylon, ‘You art this head of gold,’ Daniel foretells the rise and fall of kingdoms, of mighty monarchies, right up to the time of the establishment of the kingdom of God in this world, as recorded in verse 44. Just 213 words from the kingdom of Babylon established in 603 BC to the time of the establishment of the eternal kingdom after the coming of Christ.
“The prophecy outlined four monarchies that would hold universal supremacy. The fourth, unlike the first three, was to disintegrate into ten lesser kingdoms. True to prophecy, Babylon ruled from, 608 BC to 538 BC, when it was displaced by the Medo-Persian kingdom. The Medo-Persian empire held dominant sway from 538 BC-331 BC.
GREECE TO THE FORE
“Then Alexander the Great led the Grecian armies to conquest after conquest, till the recognized civilized world lay bleeding at his feet. Greece held world dominance from 331 BC to 168 BC. In 168 BChttp://www.ThreeAngels.com.au Rome seized the scepter, and held world sway right through the time of the birth of the Savior and His ministry on to AD 475.
“The ten toes of the feet represent the ten divisions into which the fourth kingdom was to be divided. Rome was not subjugated as was the previous universal monarchies; but, true to the prophecy, it was divided, and into exactly ten kingdoms. The list of these ten kingdoms is given by the historian Gibbon as the Alemanni, Franks, Burgundians, Vandals, Suevi, Visigoths, Saxons, Ostrogoths, Lombards, and the Heruli. The Franks are the French, the Alemanni the Germans, Anglo-Saxons the English, Suevi the Portuguese, Visigoths the Spaniards, Burgundians the Swiss, Lombards the Lombards and Italians.
“According to the prophecy, these kingdoms will never he united. ‘They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another.’ Daniel 2:43. Many have attempted to unite Europe as in the days of Caesar, but every attempt has failed. Napoleon could never understand why he lost the battle of Waterloo on June 1815.
To the end of his; days he would say, ‘But I should have won that battle.’ When asked to account for his victory, the Duke, remembering the odds that were against him, replied in awed tones, ‘the hand of God was upon me.’ The French also recognize the fact that an unseen power overruled at Waterloo.
“The same thing happened at the time of the Great War from 1914 to 1918. The miracle of that war was that at the time of its commencement, the strongest fighting machine of all time, the cream of Germany’s undefeated armies, failed to pass beyond the thin Allied lines that were worn down with ceaseless fighting.
PROPHECY FULFILLED
“Every feature of this prophecy has been correctly fulfilled except the closing part of it as mentioned in verse 44, ‘And in the-days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.’ just as each detail of the prophecy has been fulfilled to date, just so surely will Christ return, ‘and consume all these kingdoms,’ and establish the kingdom of God on this earth.”
“WE are living in an age of wonders. In fact so many marvelous inventions have suddenly come into existence that we have almost ceased to wonder. Our ancestors of a century ago, or even fifty years ago, lived in a different world. Were they to arise today and be transported to the great centers of our busy world, they surely would wonder which of the planets they were visiting. They would hardly dream that this was the planet on which they had spent their lives. The nineteenth century was an age of wonders, and the twentieth is an age of greater marvels, with less wonder.” Thus spoke Pastor Mitchell when introducing his subject, “Our Age of Marvels, and Its Warning Message,” in the Naval Hall on Sunday night.
A statement from the Scientific American, fiftieth anniversary edition, published toward the close of the nineteenth century, July 25, 1896, was read: “The material world has advanced so rapidly during the last half century, and with a pace so accelerated, that mankind has almost lost one of its most important faculties and one essential to happiness-that of surprise-the most marvelous developments are taken as a matter of course. The condition of things fifty years ago is seldom pictured to the mind; and all the material blessings which we now enjoy are used as conveniences of daily life, and no more. Notwithstanding the pages of matter and quantities of illustrations, we feel that the task of telling about the progress of a lifetime can at least be only inadequately performed so much has been done.”
Mr. Mitchell questioned: “What did this mean? Why did the world continue for nearly 6,000 years, and then all of a sudden blaze out into an era of marvelous invention and knowledge? Why have all the marvels of invention come in one unique era? Why were not some of these things seen in former ages? Early in the nineteenth century, after the origin of the steamboat in 1807, and the first railway service (from Stockton to Darlingtom, England) in 1825, men were so amazed that they thought the acme of all invention had been reached.
“Listen to the following incident recorded in the Scientific American of October 15, 1915: ‘Someone poring over the old files in the United States Patents Office at Washington the other day found a http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auletter written in 1833 that illustrates the limitations of the human imagination. It was an old employee of the Patents Office, offering his resignation to the head of the department. His reason was that as everything inventable had been invented, the Patents Office would soon be discontinued, and there would be no further need of his services, or the services of any of his fellow clerks. He therefore decided to leave before the blow fell.”
SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS
“But what marvels has the world produced since then? Here is a statement that, ‘Recently the 1,90,000th patent of the United States was issued’ Here are a few of the thousands of the scientific accomplishments of the past century, as outlined in the book, ‘Is the End Near?’ by John L. Shuler:-
“Ocean steamship in 1838; electric railway in 1889; automobile about 1890; airplane, first successful flying, December 17, 1903. The story of the advance in communication has been marked out in this wise: First successful telegraph line in 1844, first ocean cable 1858, telephone in 1876, wireless telegraphy in 1896, trans-continental telephone in 1915, radio broadcasting in 1921, telephotography in 1924, radio beam wireless in 1926, transatlantic wireless telephone in 1926.
“Some of the principal inventions and discoveries of modern times in the fields of medicine, industry, and business are as follows: Anasthesia by ether in 1846, by chloroform in 1848, X-ray in 1895, radium in 1898, reaper and mower in 1834, gas for lighting purpose in 1798, steel pen 1803, revolver in 1818, friction match in 1820, electrotyping in 1837, photography in 1839, sewing machine in 1841, typewriter in 1867, electric lighting in 1879, phonograph in 1877, seismograph in 1880, linotype in 1888, motion pictures in 1895, monotype in 1896.
“The younger generation growing up in the midst of these things is apt to consider them as ordinary; but they are not ordinary, they are extraordinary. I have a cutting here from the Southland Daily News, published in the southern most city of the British Empire, Invercargill, New Zealand. The cutting is dated 1932. A correspondent has criticized 4ZP, the radio station of that city, saying ‘it is poor compensation to listen to six-year-old records.’ Another correspondent answering wrote, “Eight Valves” is obviously not a lover of music. His soul is satisfied with each new ragtime as it is published. I have had the pleasure of listening to records broadcast from 4ZP, which have been more than sixty years old, not a mere six.’ Now what I want you to note particularly is the footnote by the editor: ‘There are no records anything like sixty years old. Some may sound sixty years old-ED. S.D.N.’
AMENITIES OF LIFE
“Mr. A. L. King, a clever Australian editor and author, puts it this way: ‘Early in the nineteenth century the busy housewife, when she arose in the morning, did not light her fire with the quick and convenient help of a Lucifer match. She used the flint and steel which when struck produced a spark and ignited the tinder. Lucifer matches superseded the flint and steel in 1834. In 1827, a druggist at Stockton-on -Tees named John Walker had invented a crude friction match consisting of a piece of wood dipped in a mixture of chlorate of potash, sulfide of antimony, and gum. These matches, which were called “Congreaves,” he retailed at fifty for a shilling.
“Nor could the housekeeper of some generations back, when she arose in the dark wintry mornings, light the gas or switch on the electric light. .. . Typewriters, Pitman’s shorthand, telephones, the telegraph, a cheap and efficient post, cash registers, adding machines, dictaphones, and stenotypes are some of the things that the commercial man had to do without when the nineteenth century was young. He did not even dream of them, let alone of motor lorries, express trains, steam ferries, and swift, luxurious passenger liners. At home his wife did without the now ubiquitous sewing machine (invented by Elias Howe in 1846), as well as cabinet organs, vacuum sweepers, electric irons, gas bath-heaters, and gas stoves. Pianos were then in their elementary stages, and the various types of piano-players that now reel off, at the operator’s will, an endless variety of music, had never entered the realm of imagination. Nor did the gramophones exist, to entertain the home circle or disturb the neighborhood.’
“How would you like to do without your morning newspaper?” Mr. Mitchell asked. “The proprietor of the Maryborough Chronicle kindly showed a friend and myself over his establishment last week. As I watched the press, printing, folding, cutting, and counting the newspapers with marvelous rapidity, accuracy, and precision, I remarked on the Contrast with Benjamin Franklin’s hand-printing press of a little over a century ago. I am afraid if we lived back a century or so ago, we would have to wait a long http://www.ThreeAngels.com.autime for our newspaper, and would probably have to be served in our turn, which would possibly necessitate the re-reading of a month-old newspaper occasionally.
MODERN SPEED
“At the close of the eighteenth century, the maximum speed of the printing press was 250 impressions per hour. Today we have the octuple Hoe perfecting press, whose cylinders run at the speed of 300 revolutions per minute, and which will print newspaper pages at the rate of 2,400,000 per hour, or 40,000 per minute, or 666 per second. This is 9,666 times as fast as the hand press of the eighteenth century could print. This modern press will run off more newspaper pages in five seconds than Benjamin Franklin’s press could have done in a whole day.
“Today news becomes world-wide in a few minutes. In 1815 the battle of New Orleans was fought two weeks after the Treaty of Ghent had been signed between the United States and Great Britain, simply because the generals did not know that the war had closed. A century later, on August 4, 1914, when Britain found herself at war with the Central Powers, it took just seven minutes to apprise every colony and every protectorate in her Dominions from Australia to the Bahamas.
“In a certain city a few years ago, a tree was cut down at 7.35 AM, and immediately barked and converted into wood pulp. A roll of paper made from this pulp was ready for the printing-presses by 9:35 AM. At 10 o’clock the same morning newsboys were selling on the streets papers printed on this paper that two hours and twenty-five minutes earlier had been a live tree.”
Toward the conclusion of the address, Mr. Mitchell stated that “any person who in this year, 1936, is forty-four years old, or older, is older than any automobile company, or any aviation, wireless, or radio company.”
RELATION TO PROPHECY
In answer to the question, why there should be this sudden marvelous increase in knowledge after nearly 6,000 years, he referred to the prophecy of Daniel as marking this time out as the “time of the end” the special time of rapid progress, facilitating the carrying of the gospel to all the ends of the earth in preparation for the end of time and the second coming of Christ. Daniel 12:4 was read: “But you, 0 Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book,-even to the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” The German translation was read: ‘And you, Daniel, hide these words and seal this writing until the last time; then shall many comprehend it and find great understanding.” Also the French: “But you, Daniel, close these words and seal the book until the time appointed; at which they shall run through it, and of which the knowledge shall he increased.”
“In view of what I see all around me,” said Mr. Mitchell, “I would not be honest with my own reasoning powers if I doubted the fact that we are in the closing days of this world’s history.”
Unparalleled running to and froe.
SPEAKING on the subject, “Speeding Toward the Terminus of Time,” in the Naval Hall on Sunday night, Pastor Mitchell said:
“In the days of my boyhood I, like all other boys who drove to town, did so with mother or father, not on pneumatic tyres, but behind the jig-jog sulky or buggy trot. Today that mode of travel is rarely seen, as compared with the luxurious speeding cars, which have to be dodged by the pedestrians at every city corner.
COMING OF THE CAR
“The world today is in a tremendous hurry. The slow-moving mule team and the plodding ox wagon have given place to the speedy motor-lorries, that move off with their tons of produce, just at the pull of a lever. And all this remarkable change has come suddenly. In 1901 there were but six motor cars in all New South Wales. There were none in existence before 1890. Yet today in the United States there is one to every four or five people, on the average. Almost everybody today rides a bicycle, yet seventy years ago there were none to ride. Go to the great cities of earth, and look around. What do you see? Thousands of http://www.ThreeAngels.com.aupeople moving rapidly on the land, under the land, and above the land; on the sea, under the sea, and above the sea. It is the daily program, so ordinary we cease to wonder. But, kind friends, my message to you at this hour is that it is not ordinary, it is amazing, it is wonderful. There never has been anything like it before and, above all, it has a tremendous meaning that you must not miss.
“Everything that moves quickly-the tram-car, the railway train, the automobile, the steamer, is speaking a message in thunder tones. Do not turn a deaf car. You should understand their language, and know their message. Daniel chapter 12, verse 4, translates their language: ‘But you, 0 Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.’ The ‘fixed period, when many will travel and knowledge shall be increased,’ as Fenton translates it, is a sign of ‘the time of the end.’
“Looking down over 2,500 years of time, the prophet saw a unique era of running to and fro. Our grandfathers and grandmothers stayed at home. They did not run about. They did not have the facilities. To travel to some relative or large city a hundred miles away, was an event to prepare for four months, and to be talked about for ever afterwards. Go back a little over a century ago, and you find men moving in the same slow way that Abraham moved from Ur of the Chaldees to the land of promise, on the back of an animal, or in some primitive dray or cart.
EARLY-DAY DISBELIEFS
“A little over a century ago such a thing as a railway was unknown and incredible. Even in America, the land of new ideas, a member of the New York Legislature in 1817 came to be regarded as the proper subject for a straight-jacket, because he expressed his belief that steam carriages would be operated successfully on land. In 1825, Mr. Nicholas Wood, in his work on railways, said: ‘Nothing could do more harm toward the adoption of railways than the promulgation of such nonsense, as that we shall see locomotives traveling at the rate of twelve, sixteen, eighteen, and twenty miles an hour.’
“Even in 1828 a debating society made a request of the school board in one of the states of America, Lancaster, Ohio, for the use of the schoolhouse for thee discussion of the question as to whether or not railroads were practical. The request was denied. And this was the reason given by the board: ‘You are welcome to use the schoolhouse to debate all proper questions in, but such things as railroads and telegraphs are impossibilities and rank infidelity. There is nothing in the Word of God about them. If God had designed that His intelligent creatures should travel at the frightful speed of fifteen miles an hour, by steam, he would have clearly foretold it through His holy prophets. It is a device of Satan to lead immortal souls down to hell.’
AGE OF SPEED
“That American school committee was excusable perhaps for being unable to comprehend the possibility of fifteen miles an hour in 1828, but what they said about the Bible’s silence was said because they lacked knowledge of its contents. In writing about the ‘day of the Lord’s preparation,’ the prophet Nahum gives a very graphic picture of the modern railway train and motor vehicles. The picture is accurate, though seen with the telescope of faith over 2,500 years ago. Here is the description: ‘The chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir-trees shall be terribly shaken. The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against another in the broad ways; they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightning. He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defense shall be prepared.’ Nahum 2:3-5. There surely was nothing that ran like the lightning in Nahum’s day, but his language is future tense. He surely saw our day, with its lightning-like speed and blazing headlights, shaking the very earth beneath one’s feet.
THE FIRST RAILWAYS
“After the successful commencement of the railway trains on the Stockton to ‘Darlington Railway in 1825, Stephenson produced his famous Rocket, which ran in 1830 on the Manchester-Liverpool line. I want you to imagine you are in England just back there 106 years ago. You are in Manchester and want to go to Liverpool by train. First you must read the rules posted up. Here they are:
“1. Any person desiring to travel from Liverpool to Manchester, or vice versa, or any portion of the journey thereof, must, twenty-four hours beforehand, make application to the station agent at the place of departure, giving name, address, place of birth, age, occupation, and reason for desiring to travel.http://www.ThreeAngels.com.au
“2 The station agent, upon ensuring himself that the applicant desires to travel for a just and lawful cause, shall thereupon issue a ticket to the applicant, who shall travel by the train named thereon.
“3 Trains will start at their points of departure as near schedule time as possible, but the company do not guarantee when they will reach their destination.
“4 Trains not reaching their destination before dark will put up at one of the several stopping-places along the route, for the night, and passengers must pay and provide for their own lodging during the night.
“5 Luggage will be carried on the roofs of the carriages. If such baggage gets wet, the company will not be responsible for any loss attaching thereto.
“The first American-built locomotive was the Best Friend, built at the West Point Foundry in New York in 1830. It was capable of hauling about forty people in four or five carriages at a speed of sixteen to twenty miles an hour. After a few months of service, its engineer, being irritated at the sound of escaping steam, fastened down the safety valve. The result was a terrific explosion, and the Best Friend was blown to pieces. Compare those railway services of a century ago “with the huge iron monsters that turtle along today, day and night, at sixty to miles an hour, carrying their daily loads of millions of people all over the world.
“Strange as it may seem, though the locomotive is just over the century old, lit is much older than the common push bicycle of our day. The old high-wheeled penny-farthings’ were made in the eighteen-sixties. I have with me a photograph of one of these, now a curio in the Timaru Museum, New Zealand. At the time that I photographed it, I copied the accompanying words attached: ‘This bicycle was made at Southampton, England, in 1868, and after being ridden there thousands of miles, was first used in Canterbury, New Zealand in 1876.’
How would you like to have to ride on of those iron-tyred bicycles today? It is not so long since you were unable to purchase the pneumatic-tyred bicycle.
YESTERDAY AND TODAY
“First the bullock dray and kindred methods of travel for nearly 6,000 years, then the locomotive, then the bicycle, then the automobile in 1890. I remember the time when as a boy I would run to the roadway to watch a motor buggy go by. But how primitive! But what rapid progress, reaching in our day a speed of 300 miles an hour!
“Then in the water-from the primitive beginnings of the early nineteenth century, what have we today? The luxurious town-ship, Queen Mary, 1,018 feet long, and a carrying capacity of 5,000 passengers. Three such vessels would be able to carry the entire population of Maryborough with perfect comfort.
‘When in 1872 Jules Verne wrote his famous story, ‘Around the World in Eighty days,’ he was laughed at. Of course it was not possible at that time. But in the year 1903 the airplane was invented, and now the earth can be encircled in about seven days. C. W. A. Scott and T. Campbell; Black, in their De-Havilland Comet, flew from England to Melbourne in the Centenary Air Race of October, 1934, a distance of 11,323 miles, in 2 days 23 hours.
“Mr. Franklin H. Cooper, an editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica, speaking of the decade from 1911-1921, wrote: ‘During these ten years we have witnessed an acceleration of events and changes, a kind of “speeding up” of history, that has been absolutely without parallel in the history of the world.’ And the speeding-up process has been more pronounced since then. Our age of speed, of travel, of running to and fro, is indeed without parallel. We must learn its language. It is telling us that we are in the ‘time of the end,’ speeding toward the terminus of time.”
NOT as a pessimist, but for the purpose of reading the signals aright, of knowing where we are in the stream of time, and of learning a significant lesson, Pastor Mitchell claimed was his reason for an address given on Wednesday night on “Significant Signs in the Social World.”
Several scriptures were read, outlining social conditions in “the last days,” and citations from recent publications were read in support of the claim that conditions of our day correspond in a peculiar way to the descriptive social outline of the prophetic “last days.”http://www.ThreeAngels.com.au
The first scripture cited was 2 Timothy 3:1-4: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall he lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” And verse 13 was read to support the statement that conditions would continue to become worse till the appearing of Christ: “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived!”
ANCIENT AND MODERN CONDITIONS
Continuing, Pastor Mitchell said: “This catalogue of eighteen sins is an exact fit of world conditions today. I do not refer to our Own State or our Commonwealth merely, but to the world in general. In Great Britain there is a staff of police who are true to duty, and loyal, yet crime is increasing even there. In America, the conditions are beyond the control of the police. The armed underworld is so well organized that the police, knowing that appalling conditions exist, in many cases make no effort to resist the inroads of racketeering and crime of every description by organized and professional criminals.”
Quoting Luke 17:26-30 and Matthew 24:37, 38, Pastor Mitchell said that the social conditions of the last days were to be an exact parallel with the iniquitous days of Noah’s time, and of the city of Sodom. “Years ago,” he said, “when I read those verses, I used to wonder how the world could ever become so wicked as in the days of Noah, when, apart from the few faithful servants of God, every imagination of the thoughts of men was ‘only evil continually,’ as is described in the sixth chapter of Genesis. But today I wonder no longer, for I am convinced that beneath the polished veneer of our twentieth century civilization, there is an ever-growing multitude who are fulfilling the prophecy: ‘As it was in the days of Noah,’ and ‘Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”
Statements were read from “This Mighty Hour,” recently published by an English author, A. S. Maxwell. This book gives information to the effect that the number of indictable crimes per annum in Britain has recently increased by 1,000 offences for every million of the population; also that Britain, in spite of hard times and unemployment, spends £260,000,000 annually on alcoholic liquors, as against £80,000,000 for bread, and £70,000,000 for milk. Mr. Mitchell contended that this illustrated the Scriptural truth of men being “lovers of their own selves,” to the neglect of thousands of sorrow-smitten families.
AS A MAN SOWETH
“The antediluvian world,” he said, “fell before the fatal triumvirate of drunkenness, sensuality, and pleasure. The eternal law of recompense still exists: ‘As a man sows, so shall he also reap.’ People complain of shortage of money, but somehow it is produced in abundance for pleasure. Here is a cutting from a New Zealand newspaper which proves the truth of the prophecy, ‘lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God’: ‘The record crowd Of 45,000 packed the Athletic Park in Wellington on Saturday, and witnessed the most brilliant spectacle of fast and furious football. .. .’ That was in the year 1930, the peak year of the depression in New Zealand. The same paper says further: ‘The gate receipts at the Wellington Athletic Park on Saturday totaled over £7,000. And yet some people say there is no ready money in the country.’
DIVORCE AND SOCIAL DISEASE
“Genesis 6:2 records that in the days of Noah ‘they took them wives of all which they chose.’ And ‘in the last days,’ the condition ‘without natural affection,’ was foretold. In England and Wales divorce has grown from the yearly average of 563 during the first five years of the twentieth century, to an average of 3,358 divorces per annum during the years 1926 to 1930. In Russia, the marriage institution can be violated simply at the request of either party. And what of America? On an average, over 500 divorces are granted in that country every day of the year. Here is a statement from a book published in America, ‘Civilization’s Last Stand’: ‘In 1916 there were five counties in the United States in which the number of divorces exceeded the number of marriages. Last year (the book was published in 1929) there was a divorce in America every four minutes on the average. In the present decade, 1,149,696 divorces were granted; in the previous decade, 723,895. In other words, there has been an increase of 425,801 within the present decade.”
“The same book states: ‘This alarming condition is not confined to America. Last year in France, 70,000 divorces were granted, and the records of nineteen centuries reveal that divorces have doubled http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auhttp://www.ThreeAngels.com.auwithin the past decade. . . . There are deeper shadows.... Vice and resultant social diseases are making startling inroads on the modern world. The percentage of cases of venereal diseases is appalling. Social diseases are said to cost America three thousand million dollars a year, and to result in 10 per cent of the deaths.
There are 4,000,000 active cases in the United States. The talk of white slavery has died down, but the hellish traffic is still rampant. Twenty-five thousand girls are procured annually by beasts in league with devils, and are added to.’
CRIME ON THE INCREASE
“In the days of Noah the earth was ‘filled with violence.’ In the ‘last days’ they are described as being ‘fierce.’ Russia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Ireland, almost all countries have had their outbreaks of violence. Even in New Zealand a few years ago there was a wave of reckless window smashing that spread from city to city. In America violence is permanent. According to the United States district attorney for Eastern New York, the amount which is taken from the annual business of New York City by the city’s racketeers is from £45,000,000 to £88,000,000. And at the same time the Crime Commission gives the astounding information that business in the United States is forced to pay to racketeers a stupendous sum amounting annually to from £2,600,000,000 to £4,000,000,000.
“In the United States there are 12,000 murders a year. Chicago and New York record a murder a day, and sometimes several in one day. Taking that country as a whole, there is a murder every hour, night and day; and if suicides be included, deaths by violence occur at the rate of one to every half-hour the year round. In the past decade the United States has lost twice as many lives by murder as the number of her soldiers killed in the Great War. Even, year in America more people lose their lives at the hands of criminals than were killed in the bloodiest engagement of the American Civil War, the battle of Gettysburg.
“Viscount Brentford, for five years Home Secretary of England, voiced the query that is arising in millions of minds. ‘I pay my taxes,’ he said, ‘and I pay them in order, among other things, that I may be protected against criminals, that I may not be murdered, or have my house broken into, or even suffer under minor offences. But instead of having the security I pay for, I find that as a member of the public I am getting less security.’ Millions of law-abiding people, shelterless in the tempest of unchecked lawlessness now sweeping the earth, doubt if the foundations of the world’s morality have not entirely crumbled.
FORCES OF EVIL
“Here is a statement from the Washington, D.C., Post, November 24, 1930: ‘Ten thousand racketeers are compelling the people of this city (New York) to pay them staggering sums each year, while the police, who know all about the gangsters and their methods, do not lift a finger to stop their depredations.’ In a book written by judge Kavanagh, ‘The Criminal and His Allies,’ the author gives a solemn warning to the people of the United States. He gives statistics, stating ‘it is sinful to minimize the situation.’ He writes: ‘In spite of all these laws and the uncountable fortunes spent for the protection of our citizens, 121000 unshielded inhabitants perished last year at the hands of assassins; 30,000 people were robbed last year; 32,000 others had their homes or other premises broken into.’
“He further writes: ‘At this moment the country is being attacked by an army of 350,000 who form an invisible foe. In other words, American soil is occupied by an invading hostile army more formidable in size and efficiency than any that before the World War ever invaded civilized country. It is twice the size of the armies that fought at Waterloo. Our Black Army is twice the size of the Union and Confederate armies that fought at Gettysburg. No story of atrocities told against the Germans by the newspapers of the Allied countries during the World War, no inflammatory tale of French cruelty published by German writers at that time, half equals in savagery the actual deeds this advancing army is sure to inflict on the patient, law-abiding American citizens during the coming twelve months.’
Mr. Mitchell said they heard of the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby because of the fame of Lindbergh, but that was just a sample of what was going on all the time. He maintained that the evidence was conclusive that they had come to “the time of the end,” “the last days,” and that the only successful solution to the world’s problems was the promised return of Christ.
“IN previous lectures I have dealt with the ominous message of Christ as outlined in Matthew 24; of the marvelous increase of knowledge peculiar to our day, and its significant message; of the unparalleled running to and fro of our time, and its lesson; and of the signs in the social world. Tonight we are to step into the religious realm, where we will find the changed conditions of our age, telling us again that we have come to ‘the last days.”
Thus spoke Pastor Mitchell when introducing the subject, “Significant Signs in the Religious World,” in the Naval Hall on Wednesday night.
Before examining the Scriptural forecast of latter-day conditions, he said: “Suppose the Bible had foretold that in the last days the churches would be packed with devoted worshippers, and that the ministers would be found preaching the pure, unadulterated truth, and that spiritual conditions would get better and better. Why, the critics would say, ‘Either the forecast is wrong, or else we are a long way from the last days.’ But the prophecy did not forecast that way. It made no mistake. It foretold the exact religious condition that we find in the world today.
LACK OF FAITH
“The Bible foretold a general lack of faith, and the substitution of ‘fables’ for sound doctrine, as the prevailing condition of the ‘last days,’ whereas a minority only, the ‘remnant,’ would in the face of persecution contend for the ‘faith which was once delivered unto the saints, the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.’
“A clear-cut picture is given in 2 Timothy 3:1-5. Verse 1 introduces us to the last days, with the words: ‘This know also, that in the last days. . .’ Then a catalogue of eighteen sins is given. Then in verse 5 we read: ‘Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.’ Here, then, because of lack of faith, the multitude though having ‘a form of godliness,’ deny the power attributed to God, as described in the Bible. In Luke 18:18 we find the words: ‘Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?’
“Now I know that, generally speaking, this prevailing condition of unbelief exists today in pulpit and pew; allowing, of course, for exceptions where the inroads of modernism and destructive ‘higher criticisms’ have not yet sapped the faith of preacher and members.
“The Christian church has been attacked right through the centuries of time. But formerly the attacks were from the outside. Paganism, apostasy, atheism, and frank unbelief in its various forms were kept outside the church membership. The church knew how to relate itself to its admitted enemies. It withstood their attacks, and marched in triumph over the graves of its critics. But today the most formidable forces, attacking the very foundations of Christianity, are found within the church itself. The Paines, the Voltaires, the Ingersolls of today are wearing the vestments of the churches. Saturated with modernistic unbelief and higher criticism they are found in the professor’s chair in many a theological college, destroying the fundamental faith of the men who pass on to the pulpit.
“POISONED WITH UNBELIEF”
“The minister in turn, leaving the religious seminary with his faith all shattered, ascends the pulpit only to administer the weekly doses of hollow modernism and doubt to the unsuspecting church members. Many of the members of the flock are poisoned with unbelief, and scattered just a little over ten years ago, I visited a certain church anniversary service in Wallsend, district of Newcastle.
It was a large church building, but the attendance had been shattered. Even for this special service the seating capacity for hundreds was occupied with less than sixty, including visitors. What robbed the church of its former congregation of believers?
“Here is the story as related to me by an old trustee of the church. The minister was a thoroughgoing modernist, apparently as sneering as Voltaire. Speaking from the pulpit he made such statements as, ‘Those who believe the story of Jonah and the whale are a shingle short,’ those who believe this or that have some other malady, until finally the climax came. There were still some loyal believers. The aged trustee, a stalwart lay-preacher himself, stood to his feet, and addressed the unbeliever at the consecrated desk with the words: ‘Now, then, that’s enough.’ Others said, ‘That’s right, Mr.-, that’s right; if you don’t come down from that pulpit we’ll turn the lights out on you.’ Thus before he had quite emptied the church http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auhttp://www.ThreeAngels.com.auhe himself had to leave. He left the circuit, but not the ministry. His superiors simply transferred him; thus authorizing him to sap and undermine the faith of another congregation by his satanic unbelief, which, if preached a generation ago, would have meant immediate dismissal from the ministry, and marked him as an infidel unworthy of church membership. How sad the drift, the enemy inside the fort, firing the arrows of the black general!
NO BIBLICAL CONTRADICTIONS
‘Another instance I recall is a reliable account from Dunedoo, N.SW. A man who had read his Bible through many times and believed it, told me that, when speaking to some ministers of his town, they told him that the Bible contradicted itself. The man who had read his Bible through and through pulled out a roll of fifty pound notes, saying, ‘I’ll give you a pound note for every contradiction you find.’ The preachers did not find any contradictions. Then the believer said: ‘You call yourselves ministers of the gospel. You are not ministers of the gospel. You are hypocrites.’ Then he rolled up his notes, and retired.
“Years ago, when I was yet in my teens, I visited an ordained clergyman in Gilgandra, NSW, who declared he did not believe the Bible. An ordained clergyman, yes, with his collar reversed in regular fashion. ‘Of course,’ he said, ‘I believe some of it. But I couldn’t believe that the world was created in six days according to the Genesis account.’ ‘Some of it,’ I replied. ‘2 Timothy 3:16 says: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” Does that only mean some of it?’ ‘Oh, no,’ he replied, ‘but we go by the prayer book mainly.’ ‘The prayer book,’ I said ‘is that inspired?’ ‘Oh, no, but it is about as old as the Bible,’ was his reply. And I think that somehow he didn’t care to make any more excuses for his inconsistencies, for he then suggested: ‘Oh, well, I suppose I’m only keeping you.’
THE BREAD OF LIFE
“Personally I would rather break stones on the road with the intermittent workers than pose as a shepherd of the flock, if I did not believe in the Sacred Book, which to the flock is the bread of life. But, unfortunately, that is the position ever growing throughout the world today; the unbeliever occupies many a pulpit. How true the last-day picture ‘Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof’!
“Here are further last-day prophetic pictures. After speaking of ‘the last days’ in 2 Timothy 3, the fourth chapter says: ‘For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.’ And in 1 Timothy 4:1 we read: ‘Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.’ And 2 Peter 3:3, 4 declares: ‘Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.’
WHITE-ANTING THE CHURCH
“This is indeed the condition of the modernistic teaching that is white-anting the church today. They not only deny the truth of the second coming of Jesus, but they deny His deity, His creatorship, His virgin birth, His Son ship. His authorship as a teacher sent from God, His working of miracles, His substitutionary death, His resurrection, His ascension, His divine intercession and priesthood. This and more is taken away by the modernistic preachers of our day. The divine inspiration of the Bible is doubted. In fact, nothing but a hollow belief is left. And yet those who deny the historical essentials of Christianity still desire to be known as ‘Christians’! Christianity today, like its divine Author, is being wounded in the house of its professed friends. The trumpet is surely given ‘an uncertain sound’; it is the sound of mere philosophic speculations.
“It is related as a fact’ (says ‘The Bible in the Critics’ Den,’ page 86), ‘that a parishioner of a higher critic kept note of the Bible books criticized by his pastor, and cut from his Bible the portions criticized, till nothing was left but the empty covers, which he presented to the minister. Higher criticism, if followed, leaves the world without hope in the morass of sin.’ This new theology humanizes Inspiration and casts the Bible overboard. We would consider a captain who casts his compass overboard to steer by inward consciousness a fool or a madman. How much more the folly or madness of modernistic theology!
CRYING NEED OF THE HOUR
“Matthew 24:12, 13 states: ‘And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.’ We truly see this condition today. The crying need of the hour is to know the Christ of Scripture. But you will not find Him in the liberal critical teachings of modernism now permeating the churches. ‘During a recent year’ (says ‘Our Changing World,’ a book published in America in 1933), ‘the official reports of 60,000 American churches revealed not one soul brought to Christ.’ Modernism has no heart appeal. Genuine Christianity alone possesses the power to change hearts.
“Churches fed by modernist ministers have seen their mission budgets dwindle almost to vanishing-point and missionaries recalled. On the other hand, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which claims that its ministry without exception is free from modernism and higher criticism believing the Bible fundamentally from Genesis to Revelation, is leading all churches in advancing foreign mission work. Last year this church added to its work sixty-five new languages. In other words, it commenced work in a new language on an average of every five and a half days of the year. They claim to be accomplishing the word of the prophetic ‘remnant’ church of Revelation 12:17 and Revelation 14:12, which though persecuted will carry ‘the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus’ to the entire earth; preparing hearts for the return of Christ, which will occur when the gospel warning is completed.”
Who will fight? Who conquers? Who and what will be left after the war? Heaven’s timely advice.
“Some things are enshrouded in the mists of doubt, while others stand out in undisputed. Certainty, like the rays of the rising sun silhouetted against the grey sky of the dawning day.” Thus spoke Pastor Mitchell, in the Naval Hall on Sunday night, in introducing the subject of the Certainty and Frightfulness of the Approaching War-Armageddon. That the world is unmistakably and rapidly driving with awe-striking speed into the very jaws of the Armageddon of Scripture, is now in the days of 1936, recognized nationally and internally as a positive certainty, said the speaker. It is not a picture that anyone desires to contemplate. But in every case the facts should be faced.
Great and wise statesmen up till the present had large hopes in the international peace efforts. But these hopes are now seriously shaken. Great Britain led the way in disarmament, but “Mars” refused to follow. Now Britain, hastening to prepare for this dreaded future, launches out on an armament program the magnitude of which soars in the proximity of £300,000,000. The dove of peace could not settle in the midst of the terrible din resounding from the armament factories of so many nations.
Britain recently published and distributed millions of pamphlets giving instructions in protection against gas attacks. France ordered 52,000,000 gas-masks in 1934, and they are now on sale in every street of the cities. Why are the nations doing these things? asked the speaker. Because they realize the world is on the verge of a great cataclysm.
Mr. Mitchell cited Mr. Churchill’s statement of last December, that one country alone, Germany, was spending the almost inconceivable sum of “£800,000,000 a year in warlike preparations.”
TERRORS OF NEXT WAR
Dealing with the terrors of the next war, Mr. Mitchell pointed out that whereas in 1914 there were but thirty different kinds of poison gases, today there are more than 1,000 different kinds, calculated to attack and destroy one by one the human organs. It was stated that twelve big bombs of Lewisite gas dropped on Rome or Manchester, would be enough to destroy all life in those populous cities within a short space of time.
London, Paris, Berlin, Chicago, or even Australian cities might suffer annihilation in the same way. There were poison gases that could penetrate masks and, produce death in a few minutes.
Phosphorus bombs, continued the lecturer, impossible to extinguish, would burn the flesh to the bone within half a minute. It was also pointed out that, generally speaking, there would be no such thing as the front lines and the rear. The whole nation would find itself on the firing line.
Mr. Mitchell pointed out that more than one great statesman had foretold that not only the British Empire, but civilization, might easily be destroyed when the present smoldering forces burst forth. Reference was made to the new book entitled, “Mars, His Idiot,” by H. M. Tomlinson. A quotation from this source was read: “The propaganda for arming the world anew is busy and confident. The signs may be missed only by those who do not wish to see them. There is not a statesman, a general, an admiral, or an air-marshal alive who knows what will happen when the potentialities of the machines, and the electrical, economic, and revolutionary powers are loosed together. They do not know how that explosive mixture will act, and there is nobody to tell them.” This authority was then cited as writing: “The peace which will fall after the firing of the last shot will be the silence of the void.”
GLAD TO BE ALARMIST
The speaker continued, “I know some will call me an alarmist. I truly hope so. I am sure if your house were burning, I would try my best to give an alarm. A quotation from Joel 2 was read: “Blow the trumpet, sound an alarm.” He wanted to assure his audience that the Scriptures had a solace.
In answering, “Who will fight?” it was pointed out from Revelation, chapter 16, that all nations would participate in the coming war, which crisis will be precipitated by the rising of the “kings of the East,” or the “sun-rising,” as the Revised Version translated it. The Japanese did not call themselves Japanese, but “Nipponese,” and their country, “Nippon,” their word for “sunrise.” A rising sun was the emblem on their flag. The same symbol was also found on the Chinese flag.
Jeremiah 4:23-27 was cited as giving the prophetic picture of this world after the war of Armageddon. “I beheld the earth, and, to, it was waste and void. I beheld, and, to, there was no man. I beheld, and, to, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities were broken down.”
It was pointed out that this terrible conflagration was the sixth of the seventh last plagues predicted in Scripture. The Scriptural solace was found in Psalm 91. It was promised here that when thousands will be falling, that those who were sheltered by the protection of the all-powerful Conqueror, Christ (who Himself participates in this last war, Revelation 16:14; 17:14), would find that “neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.”
WITH the arresting subject, “Seven distinct differences between the coming war, Armageddon, and all past wars,” Pastor Mitchell held his audience in rapt attention in the Naval Hall on Sunday night. “From the prophetic picture of the rapidly approaching war of Armageddon, as found in Revelation 16:1216,” said Mr. Mitchell, “I note the following significant points which distinguish this coming war from all previous wars. Before I cite the first point, however, I feel that I should express my sincere appreciation of a letter published in our local newspaper, commenting on my previous lectures on Armageddon. Among other things, the writer of that letter expressed his feelings to the effect that, although we were on the eve of a colossal war, yet he did not see that it would be any different from past wars. I have never before lectured on the subject I am to discuss tonight, and perhaps never would have, were it not for that letter.
After reading it, I thought I would analyze this phase of the subject, to see if the coining war will be different from previous wars. Tonight you are to get at least some of the results of my analysis.
“Firstly, I note from the above-mentioned prophecy, that all nations will be gathered into this coming war. Verses 14 and 16 of Revelation 16, tell us that ‘the kings of the earth and of the whole world’ are to be gathered into the coming war, called here ‘Armageddon.’ This has never yet been the case. Although the European war of 1914 to 1918 is sometimes called the ‘World War,’ yet the greater half of the world’s population was not involved in that war at all. China and Japan, with their teeming millions, not to mention many other smaller powers, did not participate in the great war of our day. It is to be different in the coming Armageddon. All powers will be engaged, there will be no neutral nations. The fact, therefore, that the war of Armageddon will draw the ‘kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty,’ marks Armageddon as a complete world war, which is our first point of difference from all previous wars.
EASTERN NATIONS
“Our second complete difference from all previous wars is that the coming world conflagration will be precipitated by the rising of the Eastern nations, which include China and Japan. The first powers mentioned in Armageddon’s prophecy are the ‘kings of the East.”
Revelation 16:12. They are first prepared, then, as a result of their activities, ‘the kings of the earth, and of the whole world’ are referred to as being gathered into the ‘battle of the great day of God Almighty.’ The hour has struck when these nations are prepared. Eighty years ago it would have been impossible for these ‘kings of the East’ to have precipitated a world war, for they were hermit nations, holding themselves aloof from the rest of the world. They were not awakened until July 14, 1853. On that day Commodore Perry with his imposing squadron of the American fleet, left his introduction card in the form of a cannon-ball. Perry called, to force Japan to open her doors to the Western world. He succeeded only too well.
“The third feature which distinguishes Armageddon from all previous wars, is that it is one of the seven last plagues. Revelation 16 that immediately precede the coming of Christ. The first is a ‘noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast.’
They are then listed in their order till we come to Revelation 16:12-16, which outlines the war of Armageddon as the sixth of the seven last plagues. Terrible as the other plagues are to be, they can hardly eclipse the terrors of what we now know of the possibilities of the coming Armageddon. Marked out, therefore, as one of the final devastating plagues of God to fall on an impenitent world, Armageddon differs in this third characteristic from all previous wars.
ACTUALLY WAR
“The fourth distinguishing feature of Armageddon that might be mentioned,” continued the speaker, “is the fact that God Himself will actually participate in this war. It is described in Revelation M as the ‘battle of the great day of God Almighty.’ Revelation 17:12-14 was cited as describing actual war between the kings of the ‘beast’ power of this world and Christ.”
Verse 14 was read: “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” Revelation 19:11-19, was also cited as describing the descent from heaven of angelic armies, led by Christ, the conquering “King of kings.”
“The fifth amazing, unprecedented feature of Armageddon,” said Mr. Mitchell, “will be the opening up of the artillery of heaven. This artillery will deliver a quick-firing barrage, not of bullets, nor of cannon-balls, but of balls of hail, every one about the weight of fifty-seven pounds.” Revelation 16:21 was quoted: ‘And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent.”
The sixth point of difference cited was the fact that there would be an armor worn by some during the time of this war that would be “plague proof,” “bullet proof,” and “gas and artillery proof.” It would be the armor of character. It was pointed out that the falling of the plagues, including Armageddon, will usher in the actual second coming of Christ. Christ comes to deliver those who are loyal to Him. And just as God protected His followers from the plague of hail and the other plagues when He was about to lead them from Egypt into the promised land of Canaan, so He has promised to deliver and protect His faithful followers from the final plagues when He is about to lead them into the heavenly Canaan.
The seventh distinguishing feature of Armageddon, as cited, was that it will he the last of all wars. The late European war was supposed to be a war to end war, but from several scriptures it was shown that Scripture taught that Armageddon would be the ending of war.
The Christian’s hope.
THE greatest Friend and Elder Brother of mankind laid aside the superintendent of the universe, left the mansions of eternity resplendent with everlasting glory, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. Though rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich. The One above angels, who had power over all creation, laid it all http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auaside, and became the Babe of Bethlehem, Jesus the Savior. His childhood was filled with divine sweetness, fragrant with song, prayer, and praise. His ministry was marvelous beyond description. Words are altogether too inadequate to describe the closing scenes of His earthly life. But we listen to His comforting words of assurance spoken before leaving the blood-stained earth: “Let not your heart be troubled: You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go ‘to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” With this introduction, Pastor Mitchell preached on “The Second Coming of Christ, the Christians’ Hope,” in the Naval Hall on Wednesday night.
He stated that this great subject was now being heralded the world over, and that the skepticism of a few years ago was now giving place to confident expectancy. A quotation from the Sydney Sun was read to show that churches in general are now preaching this subject: “On May 8, one hundred and fifty clergymen in New South Wales, representing all Protestant denominations, will preach three hundred sermons on the second coming of Christ.” - April 3, 1932.
REASONS FOR BELIEF
“Most emphatically do I declare my whole-hearted belief in the visible, personal, and not-far-distant return of Christ, accompanied with the glory of His Father, and escorted by the angelic hosts of heaven,” said Mr. Mitchell. Now you will want to know my reasons. I will give you the seven chief reasons for my belief:
off. Therefore, I know that the crowning event is approaching with equal certainty.
7. The disciples of Christ from the days of Peter, Thomas, James, and John to Luther, Calvin, Knox, and Moody, and thence to our day, 1936, have viewed the second coming of Christ as ‘the blessed hope.”
Continuing, Mr. Mitchell said that over the door of the great mausoleum of the Old Testament saints is inscribed this epitaph: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off.” Hebrews l:13. Jude 1:14 said that “Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints.” Job declared, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.”
And the Psalmist declared: “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him.” Psalm 50:3.
“We find the echo in the New Testament,” said the speaker. ‘For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
HOPE OF THE CHURCH
Speaking of the hope of the church, Titus 2:13 was read: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” “Happy the man or woman who has this hope burning brightly within his heart,” said Mr. Mitchell. “A prosperous man may fail, become bankrupt, and lose hope. A strong laborer may lose his health in middle age, and finally hear the doctor’s words, ‘There is no hope.” Sad as these pictures were, Mr. Mitchell claimed that sadder still was the picture of the man who had no hope spiritually. The strong words of Hebrews 6:19 were commented upon: “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.”
Mr. Mitchell told of a lady whose husband was lost at sea. For fourteen years this lady left her door open every night, hoping her husband might return and enter the borne once again. Why did she do that?
Because she loved him. Likewise, it was stated, if we really loved Jesus as our greatest friend and benefactor, we should have no fears, but should cherish the thought of seeing Him come into our presence.
Often an elder brother of, a family after a long absence wired the time of his coming home. Perhaps it was by the midnight train. Some of the family slept for a few hours, but at midnight they were awakened, and together with those who had remained awake they went to meet their brother. Likewise, it was stated, Christ was our Elder Brother. He had been absent a long time. Many of His faithful followers had been laid to rest, but soon they would be awakened, and they with the waiting saints would have the inexpressible joy of meeting their Elder Brother. It was stated that the last verse but one in the New Testament contained a prayer breathed by the Apostle John, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
A poem, entitled “The Blessed Hope,” concluded the address.
“He told us He would come again,
Our loving Lord and Friend;
And all our tears would wipe away,
And all our sorrows end.”
“Eye bath not seen, nor ear bath heard,
The joys awaiting there,
Within, the mansions of delight
Our Savior will prepare.”
“It is this that buoys our spirits up,
For this we hope and pray
An entrance through those pearly gates
To everlasting day.”
“Then come, Lord Jesus, quickly come, And take Thy people borne;
Where peace and joy shall fill the soul, And sorrows never come.”
J. M. Hopkins.
THE Reason for Christ’s Return, the third of a series of lectures on the second coming of Christ, was delivered by Pastor Mitchell in the Naval Hall on Wednesday night. He said:
“I have met and conversed with many people who are not concerned whether Christ returns or not. In fact I have been asked what need existed for His return. The simple fact is that those who are not concerned as to whether Christ returns or not, have no conception of the supreme importance of this colossal event in the divine plan of salvation.
A MIGHTY EVENT
“Bible writers and the most profound students and servants of God through the ages have viewed this event as the hope of the church, and rightly so. Why, one’s eternal destiny depends on events which synchronize with the coming of Christ. Those now dead will not he resurrected till the blast of the trumpet is heard at the coming of the Redeemer. The living saints will not be translated till then. Furthermore, sin with all its heart-rending consequences will run its course till then. Regardless of all the most laudable and raise worthy efforts at reform in economic conditions, poverty, hunger, malnutrition, sickness, untimely deaths from malignant diseases, the falling tear and the heavy heart, and a thousand other miseries, that all right-thinking persons must long to see banished from the universe, will continue till the time of the second coining of Jesus. War with all its ghastly and diabolical deeds of hate and wrong, and its indescribable agonies of suffering humanity, will not cease till His Majesty, the Prince of Peace, is actually seen coming again.
“At the coming of Jesus, the war trumpet, now echoing in the hills summoning man against man and nation against nation, will give place to the trumpet blast from the skies, calling the sleeping saints to http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auarise from their dusty beds. It will announce the moment when ‘this mortal must put on immortality’ and the living and resurrected saints will ascend to inherit the mansions promised and prepared for them. Yes, happenings of eternal importance, at present almost inconceivable and incomprehensible, await the hour of Jesus’ coming-an event said Mr. Mitchell, “of greater importance to our mundane sphere, the future does not hold.”
THE GLORIOUS DAWN
The following summary contains the reasons given by Pastor Mitchell as to why Christ will come again:
“1 Christ’s second coining is the only thing possible that will end earth’s dark night of sin and misery and usher in the dawn of perfect day. This world of sin as we now know it is pictured as a dark night. Romans 13:12 declares: ‘The night is far spent, the day is at hand.’ The dark night of sin’s cruel reign will end only when ‘the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings,’ as foretold in Malachi 4:2, bringing the dawn of the perfect day as pictured in Proverbs 4:18.
“2 He comes to bring rewards to all. Revelation 22:11 states: ‘And, behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be. Matthew 16:27 teaches the same truth.
“3 The harvest of the earth is reaped at His coming. Matthew 13:29 describes the harvest as the end of the world. And Revelation 14:14, 15 describes the actual coming of Jesus to reap the harvest.
“4 The resurrection of the righteous dead awaits the return of Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, and 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, show that ‘the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,’ when ‘The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout ... the dead in Christ shall rise first.’
“5 At that time the angels gather the saints. ‘And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.’ Matthew 24:31.
“6 He comes to execute the great separation of the sheep from the goats, as recorded in Matthew 25:31-43; or the tares from the wheat, as recorded in Matthew 13.
“7 The seventh reason necessitating the coming of Jesus is that the crowns of glory are not given till He comes. 1 Peter 5:4 states, ‘When the chief Shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory, that fades not away.’ In 2 Timothy 4:8, we find Paul speaking of his crown of glory ‘laid up,’ which he expected to receive ‘at that day,’ the time when ‘all them also that love His appearing’ receive theirs.
“8 He comes to receive the prepared tenants for the mansions He has promised and has prepared for them. ‘And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where Iam, there you maybe also.’ John 14:13.
119. His coming means an end to active sin, and all who cling to it. ‘And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coining.’ 2 Thessalonians 2:8.
A NEW EARTH
“10. Christ’s second coming is the initial step to the setting up of His glorious kingdom in the earth after the saints spend their millennial reign, 1,000 years’ post translation course in heaven. 2 Peter describes the destruction of this earth, and the promise of its being made new. Revelation 21 gives the picture of the new earth, following the millennium of the previous chapter.”
In view of the many necessary features of the plan of salvation depending on the second coming of Christ, Mr. Mitchell emphasized the supreme necessity of this most important event. By virtue of reasoning, if He were not to come, sin’s dark reign would continue, and mankind would never receive its eternal rewards. Though the gospel seed had been sown, the harvest would never be reaped. The sleeping saints would not be resurrected and gathered by the angels, nor would the crowns be distributed, nor the saints gathered to the mansions promised by Christ in His comforting words of assurance spoken before departing from this world.
The words of the following poem concluded the address:-
“If Christ did not come, what then?
If He failed in His promise to men?
If the prophetic Word Dishonored its Lord,
And Christ did not come, what then?
“The grave on the hillside would keep
Its treasures, while lone hearts would weep
Over the dark, silent tomb With its changeless gloom
Through ages eternal and deep.
“Then sin’s crimson tide would roll on
And deepen with each coming dawn,
Till madness and rage Filled history’s page,
And hope’s last prospective had gone.
“And the story of love that has cheered
The soul in the grief it has feared,
Would all prove a lie,
And faith’s dream must die
In view of the home it has reared.
“If Christ should not come? Oh, in vain
Men question the gospel refrain!
The promise divine
From your Lord and mine
Declares, ‘I will come again”
Robert Hare.
Biblical Version
The manner of Christ’s return, the second of a series of lectures on the second coming of Christ, was delivered by Pastor Mitchell, in the Naval Hall on Sunday night. He said:
“SCRIPTURE not only teaches that Christ will return, but that He will return in a certain particular manner. In the days of Christ’s first coming to earth, the Jewish leaders rejected Him because He did not come as they expected. They were looking for a Messiah who would deliver them from the Roman yoke, and set up and rule over an earthly kingdom in this sinful world as it was then. And because His birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection followed the plan according to the prophecies and not according to the popular desires and opinions of His day, He was therefore rejected.
“Strangely enough,” he continued, “while there exists today world-wide unanimity of belief regarding the certainty and nearness of the second coming of Christ, yet there exists a diversity of opinion with regard to the manner of His coming. The Bible teaching is as plain as the noonday sun on the matter, but a multitude of people have drifted into error because, instead of accepting the plain message of Scripture, they accepted and adopted the practice of allegorizing the plain literal language of Scripture.
METHOD OF INTERPRETATION
‘The only way,” he continued, “to know that one has the Bible truth on any subject, is to take the message of literal language just as it read. If we adopt allegorizing methods of interpretation, the result will be as many shades of opinion as there are sets of brains desirous and capable of formulating doctrines according to their private allegorical, or spiritual interpretations. Literal language delivers its message without interpretation. When one allegorizes literal language he must of necessity obscure the original true http://www.ThreeAngels.com.aumessage, thus neglecting to observe the teaching of 2 Peter 1:20 that ‘no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.’
“Viewing the Scriptures through these allegorical lenses,” said Pastor Mitchell, “many believed that Christ had already come, but invisibly and spiritually. They thereby missed the wonderful message of a glorious literal personal coming of Christ. There are others who just as unscripturally believe that Christ’s second coming is still future, but that when He comes it will be known only to the elect, who will be taken away secretly. I have met many who have held this view, but have never yet met any, neither preacher or layman, who could produce sound Scriptural evidence to support the idea. Those who hold this view known as the ‘secret rapture of the church,’ are doomed to as great a disappointment as were the religious leaders in the days of John the Baptist, who were looking for the coming of a worldly conqueror.”
MANNER OF HIS COMING
The following scriptures were read to show that Christ warned against counterfeit, or secret comings: “For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth; behold He is in the secret chambers, believe it not.” Matthew 24:5, 26. Further verses in the same chapter were then read describing the actual manner of His coming. “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shines even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” There is no secret gathering of the elect about that description, stated the speaker, and those were the words of Matthew 24:27, 30, 31, the words of Christ Himself.
Continuing, he said: “I have met sincere people who have cited the words of 1 Thessalonians 5:1, 2: ‘But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.’
“Now note carefully that this deals with the time of Christ’s coming. It is the ‘times and the seasons.’ The time comes as a thief. But the manner of His coming is described just a few verses previously, as I have often pointed out. 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17: ‘For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
“Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.’ Now note that that describes the manner of His coming, whereas the illustration of the thief in the night concerns the time of His coming. The time is a secret, but the manner is anything but secret- accompanied with a ‘shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God.’
BEFORE THE MILLENNIAL REIGN
“Then reference is sometimes made to Matthew 24:37-42,” said Pastor Mitchell. “Here the Scriptures say, ‘One shall be taken, and the other left.’ It is wrongly assumed that the one taken is the righteous one taken to heaven, leaving the wicked untouched. But the simile used is a parallel with the day of Noah’s Flood. ‘The Flood came and took them all away.’ Whom? Why, it was the wicked that were taken.” So, it was said, the wicked would be taken by the elements of destruction, the seven last plagues, and the brightness of Christ’s coming as described in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, before the righteous were translated. It was asserted that the same conclusion was taught by Christ’s answer as recorded in Luke 17:36, 37. Christ stated, “One shall be taken and the other left.” The disciples asked, “Where, Lord?”
Christ answered, “Where so ever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.” “Those taken then,” said Pastor Mitchell, “are not taken to heaven, but are corpses, for eagles’ food.” From Job 39:27-30, it was declared that the eagles are “where the slain are.”
And Revelation 19:17, 18 was cited as describing the birds feeding on the wicked who were destroyed by the final destructions of the Lord. After the wicked were taken off by the elements of destruction, he said, the righteous who were left were translated as Christ returned to heaven for the millennial reign. After spending that 1,000 years in heaven, the saints, said the speaker, returned to this earth, which, after the resurrection and destruction of all the wicked, was described in the closing chapters of the New Testament as a new earth.
“EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM”
Acts 1, verses 9-11, was read to show that Christ would return as He went from the earth, visibly, to all. Revelation 1:7 stated that “every eye shall see Him.” Many scriptures were read that stated that Christ would “appear,” or that referred to His “appearing.”
Reference was made to Matthew 26:64, where Christ, in the grip of those who were condemning Him, calmly acknowledged the claim to be the Son of God; but Pastor Mitchell added: “Nevertheless I say unto you, henceforth you shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
“IN the three subjects previously discussed, I have dealt with the certainty of Christ’s return; the manner of His coming; and the object of His return. Now we are to investigate the time of His coming,” were Pastor Mitchell’s introductory remarks to a lecture given in the Naval Hall on Sunday night.
“Christ Himself was questioned concerning the time of His coming,” he said, “and did not rebuke those who inquired, but gave a comprehensive reply. On the other hand, we find Matthew 16:3 recording Christ rebuking the religious leaders of His day with the words: ‘O you hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky; but can you not discern the signs of the times?’ Now, friends, you will readily agree that if there are signs indicative of the time of the return of Jesus, we stand rebuked if we fail to become acquainted with them.”
Continuing, he said “Now come with me back over the centuries, to a scene on the Mount of Olives Jesus is talking with His disciples. They have just left the beautiful temple, the centre of splendor and pride of the Jewish nation. He has just been telling His disciples that it would be utterly destroyed, ‘not one stone left upon another.’ The disciples are amazed. Jesus has also spoken to them about His return to earth again, not as the Babe of Bethlehem’s manger, but with the threefold glory of heaven--2when He shall come in His own glory, and His Father’s, and of the holy angels.’ Matthew 16:28. Now in the quietness and confidence of that hallowed gathering, the disciples ask, ‘Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?’ Matthew 24:3.
“This inquiry concerned the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and its famous temple, and also the time of the coming of Christ, two different events. In replying, Jesus told of happenings, as signs leading to the destruction of Jerusalem, as well as the signs that would precede His second coming.
“Josephus, the celebrated Jewish historian, who was an eye-witness to the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in A.D. 70, tells us that 1,100,000 Jews perished in the siege, and 97,000 were sold into captivity. Those who had become Christians, however, by virtue of the words of their Master, and by carefully observing the signs, made good their escape, not one perishing in the siege. Likewise, only by carefully following the instruction of the Master will we be prepared for the greater crisis, the coming of Christ and the end of the world.
“I am pleased that I have chosen this subject for this evening’s address,” said Mr. Mitchell, “for I noticed in yesterday’s issue of our local city newspaper, a correspondent referring to a certain statement made by Christ. The statement referred to was made by Christ after He had given a list of signs that have been fulfilled one after the other over the centuries. The full statement is found in Matthew 24:33, 34: ‘So likewise you, when you shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.’ The same statement is found in Luke 21:32 and Mark 13:30, the texts cited in yesterday’s newspaper correspondence. The correspondent assumed that Christ should have returned in the generation in which He spoke the message, rather than in the generation that would ‘see all these things.’ This assumption, however, is unwarranted.
“Firstly, let it be remembered that the signs of this chapter were forerunners of two great occurrences. And while all the signs that Were to precede the destruction of Jerusalem were fulfilled in that generation, that was only the, beginning of the fulfillment of the complete list that was to precede the return of Christ, and the destruction of this world. As other signs were only to commence after the destruction of Jerusalem, and one of them, the great tribulation of the saints, lasted right through the Dark Ages, it is obvious that these were never intended to be fulfilled in the apostolic generation.
TRANSLATION DIFFICULTIES
“Secondly, those who criticize on this subject should remember that occasionally in translating, one finds it impossible to find a word to convey the complete identical meaning in both languages. I have examined my Greek New Testament, and find that the word translated ‘fulfilled’ in ‘this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled’ is the Greek word genetai from Ginomai. This word is much used in Greek, and with great latitude. It is found in the New Testament nearly 700 times and is translated ‘fulfilled’ but three times. Its primary meaning is ‘to become,’ i.e., come into being. Other ideas conveyed by the same word are ‘to generate, arise, grow, follow, happen, continue, to cause to be.’ Hence with the idea of beginning, suggested in the Greek, the text could be translated: ‘This generation shall not pass till all these things begin to happen.’ If the generation referred to were the generation in which Christ was speaking, it is clear that this would be the meaning intended.
“The third point that helps us to get the New Testament view on this subject, is the fact that Paul in his writings taught emphatically that Christ’s return was not imminent in his day. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 records Paul declaring: ‘Now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.’ Before the coming of Christ there was to be an apostasy. Professing Christians were to be drawn into the vortex of error, a certain arrogant power was to lead out in the ‘mystery of iniquity’ spoken of in the same chapter, the adherents of which would finally be destroyed with the brightness of Christ’s coming. 2 Thessalonians 2:8.
“Christ’s prophecy, in referring to the first great landmark following the destruction of Jerusalem, foretold the work of the same opposing power: ‘For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.’
Matthew 24:21. Daniel,” Mr. Mitchell said, “referred to the same power as ‘wearing out the saints of the Most High,’ and together with Revelation, and in the light of other scriptures, taught that this power would have supremacy for 1,260 years. The period is known in history as ‘the Dark Ages.”
The speaker then cited historical happenings which he claimed placed this 1,260 years from the year 538 to 1798. By this time he claimed religious liberty had been bought for the world by the blood of the martyrs, and men and women had the God-given liberty to worship according to the dictates of their own consciences.
NAPOLEON PLAYS PART
He said: “In that year 1798, the armies of Rome, who under religion-political leadership had been responsible for the slaughter of thousands of noble-minded, gentle, unoffending men, women, and children, whose only guilt was their unshaken faith in the Word of God-in that year those armies proved powerless before the march of General Berthier. In 796, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Italy, defeating the Roman armies. And when in 1798 Berthier, Napoleon’s chief of staff, entered Rome unopposed, he effected certain changes which signally marked the termination of the Dark Ages. The chief director of the persecutions against the saints of God was made a prisoner in a foreign land, and died in exile.
Reference was then made to Matthew 24:29, depicting the darkening of the sun, the moon, and the falling of the stars. It was stated that May 19, 1780, was the date of the remarkable supernatural darkening of the sun, the darkness being unaffected by the rising full moon, which had the appearance of blood. Reference was made to the celestial display of falling stars in 1833, when it was stated in some places 200,000 stars an hour, according to estimate, fell for about five or six hours.
What was referred to as the most important and culminating sign was that of Matthew 24:14: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Revelation 14:6, 7, 12 was also cited to show that it was the “everlasting gospel,” in harmony with “the commandments of God, and faith of Jesus,” that was to go to every “nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,” ushering in the return of Jesus. Reference was made to the “increase of knowledge” predicted in Daniel 12:4, to occur in the time of the end, as characterizing our day and facilitating the carrying of the gospel to all the world.
CARRYING THE GOSPEL
He stated that the Seventh-day Adventist Church had undertaken to carry the everlasting gospel in all its purity, as described, in Revelation 14:6-12, to the whole world in this generation. In 1874 they sent out the first missionary. Today they have nearly accomplished their task. They are operating in 325 countries and islands, and use in their world-wide work over 540 languages. He states that for many years this movement has entered a new language on the average every ten days, and in one year an average of one language every week was accomplished. It was the speaker’s conviction that at present an uncompleted task, rather than a period of time, was all that stood between us and the return of Christ. He believed that we had now come to the “generation” that would usher in the coming of Christ, as the heralding of the gospel to every kindred, tongue, and people was nearing completion, and all the other signs given by the Savior that were to precede His second coming had been fulfilled.
THE events synchronizing with the commencement and termination of the Bible millennium were discussed in a sermon-lecture in the Naval Hall, delivered by Pastor Mitchell on Sunday night. He said:
“The word ‘millennium’ is derived from two Latin words: mille, a thousand, and annus, a year. Any 1,000 years is a millennium.
There is nothing in the etymology of the word that suggests peace or prosperity as is often supposed. There is only one thousand-year period mentioned in the Bible, and it begins and terminates with a resurrection.
“According to 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17, and 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, the dead in Christ are resurrected first, at the second coming of Christ: ‘For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.’ Revelation 20:5 states: ‘The rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished.’
Hence there is a thousand years between the resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the wicked. This thousand years is ushered in by the events which synchronize with the second coming of Christ, including the resurrection of those who will be translated.
“The events that usher in the millennium are:-
TRANSLATION OF THE SAINTS
“I feel that I should comment on this point before I pass on. I have met professing Christians who believe that the saints will inherit this earth, but never be translated to heaven. Now it is true that, after the millennium, this earth, in its restored condition, in all its Edenic purity, beauty, and peacefulness, when the wolf and the lion shall dwell with the lamb-this earth then will indeed be the final inheritance of the saints. But during the millennium the saved will spend their 1,000 years’ post-translation course in heaven. Are you getting ready for that time?
“A study of the last few verses of John 13 and John 14:1-3 reveals the fact that Jesus definitely promised an entrance into heavenly mansions. Christ was about to return to His ‘Father’s house’ to prepare mansions for the saints. Peter asked, ‘Why cannot I follow Thee now?’ Jesus promised, ‘You shall follow Me afterwards.’ Then He explained that He was going to prepare mansions in His ‘Father’s house.’ But, He said, ‘If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.’
“Now this must be conclusive evidence to the believer. Christ at His coming takes the saints to the mansions He prepares. Those mansions are in heaven. Therefore He comes to translate His saints from this earth to His ‘Father’s house,’ that ‘where I am there you may be also.’ He, then, who believes that the saints will never leave this earth, is not yet in tune with the music of inspiration. Elijah was translated http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auwithout seeing death, so will those who are among the faithful when Jesus returns. Moses died, and was resurrected and translated, and thus he became the type of those who will be called from the grave on translation day. And in Revelation 19:1-9, John beholds the multitude of the redeemed around the throne in heaven.
FATE OF THE WICKED
“As we now pass on into the actual millennium itself, we will catch the inspired picture of the condition of the earth during this period. We will see that it is indeed a suitable prison house for Satan’s meditations after his 6,000 years of diabolical deeds. On the other hand, were the saints called to spend their millennium on the earth after the coming of Christ, it would be but a dreary 1,000 years of gloom.
THE WORLD’S TRIBULATION
“Now let us notice what actually happens to the earth at the coming of Christ. Both Old and New Testaments tell the same story. Revelation 16 describes the seven last plagues that occur just prior to the coming of Christ. The sixth plague brings the battle of Armageddon. Then what happens under the final plague? Note verses 17-19. Under this plague a message of doom strikes the earth. The words, ‘It is done,’ is the signal for the greatest earthquake of all time-’and the cities of the nations fell.’ This is mother earth’s introduction to the millennium. Not luxurious prosperity, but entire destruction of the cities of the world-a fitting prelude to an earthly prison for Satan, but not for the millennial reign of the redeemed host.
“Revelation 6:14-17 tells us that at this same time ‘every mountain and island were moved out of their places.’ Now view the same picture from Jeremiah 4:23-27: ‘I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.’ That is what occurs ‘at the presence of the Lord,’ at the coming of Christ. In the Hebrew section of Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, he tells us that ‘void’ is from the Hebrew word bohoo, and means an ‘indistinguishable ruin.’ That then is the picture of the earth during the millennium.
THE SLAIN OF ARMAGEDDON
“Jeremiah 25:30-33, describing the same time, tells us that when the ‘shout’ of the Lord is heard, the wicked will be given to the sword And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried--a dreary prison house for Satan.
“Those slain by the battle of Armageddon, and the other plagues, and with the brightness of Christ’s coming, will not be gathered nor buried, for none will be left to bury them. All the wicked will be destroyed till after the thousand years, and all the righteous will be translated to heaven, hence the condition as described in Scripture. Isaiah 24:1 says: ‘Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty, and makes it waste’; and verse 3 says: ‘The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord bath spoken this word.’ Now that you know the condition of things on the earth during the millennium, I am sure that you will rejoice that the saints will not be here during that thousand years.
THE NEW JERUSALEM
“To conclude, we will briefly notice the events that terminate this millennial period. In Revelation 20 we find that the wicked are resurrected at the end of this period. With the saints in heaven for a thousand years, and all the wicked lying dead around him, Satan for that thousand years is on the unemployment list. But with the resurrection of the wicked, he immediately mobilizes the hosts of the ages, ‘the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.’ At this time, the millennial reign being over, the saints of God with the glorious city, the New Jerusalem (those mansions prepared by Christ in heaven), descend to this earth. Satan attempts the maddest venture of his career, in an attempt to overthrow the city. But ‘fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.’ The fire that destroys the wicked purifies the earth. The earth is renewed. Revelation 21 describes the New Jerusalem, metropolis of the new earth.
“The last chapter of the Bible describes the glorious new earth. It is the inheritance of the saints when sin and sinners are blotted from the universe. Malachi 4:1-3 teaches that their ashes become part of the earth trodden under foot. And Revelation 20:14 says: ‘This is the second death.’
“The Bible opens with the ‘tree of life.’ It closes with the ‘tree of life’ restored in the earth made new. The curse pronounced in Genesis is lifted and replaced by the ‘throne’ in Revelation’s last chapter. The passport to the eternal city is upon the conditions described in Revelation 22:14: ‘Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.’
“The millennium terminates with: (1) the resurrection of the wicked; (2) the consequent reemployment of Satan; (3) the descent of the Holy City and the saints to earth; (4) the final overthrow and destruction of Satan and his evil hosts; (5) the renewal of the earth after the eradication of sin; and the establishment of the kingdom of glory.”
It is now; No second chance.
SPEAKING on the subject of “Salvation, the Time of Its Inauguration, and the Time of Its Termination,” in the Naval Hall on Wednesday night, Pastor Mitchell said:
“The subject of salvation is indeed a big subject to cover in one address. However, I propose to show the Scriptural authority for the following facts:
THE LARGER HOPE
“I have met those who speak of the ‘larger hope,’ and the possibility of all being saved, even though they neglect salvation in this present life. Many believe that those neglecting salvation now will have another opportunity during the millennium. I recollect a typical case in Gore, South New Zealand. A lady there who attended some of my lectures, was herself a leader of a Bible study class of ladies. She spoke to me of the necessity of a chance of salvation during the millennium. She cited the case of her own daughter, who held a good position in the telephone exchange, but was in no way given to spiritual thoughts. I was amazed when it really dawned on me that this woman, a professing Christian, had little or no burden for the spiritual welfare of her beloved daughter, simply because she believed that her opportunity would come later, during the millennium.
“From my study of the Scriptures, I know that this teaching of another chance during the millennial age, while it may appear pleasing to many, is, nevertheless, entirely unscriptural. Perhaps no falsehood concerning the great plan of the ages is better suited to deceive souls, and lull them into a false security, than the idea of a second probation for sinners. Some claim that during the millennium there will exist a power which the wicked will ‘strive in vain to resist.’ This false idea of a second probation apparently springs from the belief that all men ultimately will be saved. However, the Scripture does not teach that all men will accept salvation, nor will God force men to be saved.
THE DOOR OF SALVATION
“Here is the Scriptural truth on this subject. Matthew 7:13, 14: ‘Enter you in at the straight gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it.’ Luke 12:32 teaches that the ‘little flock’ receive the kingdom. And Luke 13:24-28 teaches that the door of salvation will dose against many, never to be opened again. The result is ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
“Provision for salvation for all men has been available from the time that sin first crept into the world. The fact that all are not saved is no evidence that the gospel is unable to save all. But man is a free moral agent, and the final choice lies with him. For righteousness in its very nature is of choice, and cannot be of compulsion.
“Reference is sometimes made to those who have never heard of Christ. The Scripture explains that all are judged according to the light that they have. Romans 2:11-14 shows that the heathen, or Gentiles, who have no knowledge of the law, yet ‘do by nature the things contained in the law,’ these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves. Verse 15 states: ‘Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness.’ John 1:4, 9 teaches that Christ ‘was the true light, which lights every man that cometh into the world.’ Titus 2:11 says: ‘For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men.’ Psalm 19:1-7, and Romans 1:20 teach that those who have not had the written Word have had the voice of God speaking through His created works.
“Revelation 7:9 pictures a great multitude saved from ‘all nations, and kingdoms, and people, and tongues,’ evidencing the fact that those who are not saved have neglected the opportunity bought up by those who are saved. For according to 2 Chronicles 16:9, ‘the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.’
“While Matthew 24:14, and Revelation 14:6-12 teach that the gospel will be preached to all the world ‘for a witness,’ it does not teach that all will be converted. On the other hand, the Scripture taught a ‘great falling away,’ a lapsing into similar conditions that prevailed in the days of Noah, and in the days of Sodom. This is made very plain in Luke 17:26-30. And Matthew 13 teaches that the tares will still abound, and be eventually gathered and burned after the coming of Christ. 2 Timothy 3:1-13 teaches not the conversion of the world, but says: ‘Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and. being deceived.’
TO EVERY MAN ACCORDING
“Before Christ comes the judgment work of the heavenly sanctuary is completed, and Jesus, the great High Priest, prepares to come as king. Then that heavenly fiat of Revelation 22:11, 12, goes into effect--’He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.’
“Nothing could be plainer than this. The door of probation closes just before the coming of Christ, when the work of investigative judgment described elsewhere in the Bible is completed. When the great clock of the universe strikes the hour for this stupendous crisis, then the destiny of every man, woman, and child will be for ever decided. The last sin will then have been forgiven.
Those who hope for salvation after that decree goes forth are under great deception, for at the time of that solemn fiat the work of salvation closes. And I trust that this warning from the closing chapter of Scripture may be used even now to disillusion those who may be procrastinating, and hope for salvation at a later dispensation.
“THE WICKED DESTROYED”
“The Scripture says, ‘Now is the day of salvation.’ But soon the harvest will be past, and summer ended. As I pointed out in my previous address, this world during the millennium will be desolate, and the wicked will not be reformed for they will be destroyed at the time of the coming of Christ, not to be resurrected till a thousand years later. The teaching of Revelation 20:5 should for ever dear up the matter. The wicked are not resurrected till after the thousand years, hence they are not being reformed during that period. The righteous only are resurrected at the coming of Christ, as is taught in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. Then Revelation 20:5 says: ‘But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.’
“The heathen, the Sodomites, the Amalekites, and others that some mention as having a second chance during the millennium, are all dead during that period. Then when the wicked are resurrected it is not for a second probation, but to receive their just punishment. It is to receive their ‘second death’ in the lake of fire that is described in Revelation, chapter 20:14, 15.
HOPE THE LODESTAR
“The power to ‘save to the uttermost’ is the power of the gospel now. We need not look to some future time. ‘Now is the day of salvation.’ To souls now, who are struggling to overcome the dark passions of sin, our Lord says: ‘Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.’ Jude 1:24.
“The sun still shines in the heavens, passing over its usual round. The heavens still declare the glory of God. Men are still jostling one against another, contending for the highest places. Pleasure lovers still crowd the theatres, horse races, and gambling halls.
The highest excitement prevails, yet probation’s hour is fast closing, and every case is able to be eternally decided. Eventually you will either be a citizen of the earth made new, possessing eternal life, in the matchless realms of bliss, or you will be among those who receive ‘the second death.’ I trust that every soul within the hearing of my voice Will make the wise choice, and prepare to ‘meet thy God.’ May heaven help us to choose wisely, now, while we may.”
“IN a previous address we viewed the Bible picture of the chaotic desolation, and ruined and broken cities that will characterize this earth during the millennium. Now with the aid of the inspired Word of God, I plan to lift that long 1,000 years’ veil, and catch a glimpse of the surpassing splendor of the Edenic Paradise restored after the smoke of the purifying fires of the closing events of the millennium are cleared away for ever.”
Thus spoke Pastor Mitchell in the Naval Hall on Wednesday night, when introducing the subject of “The Final Home of the Saved.”
“Of the 450,600 words or more in the English language, one of the sweetest is ‘home.’ The ideal home-a world of anxiety shut out, and a world of Christian love shut in-is the grandest place in all the world. But in this world of sin, how few are the ideal homes! And subject to the earthly maladies of sickness, sorrow, pain, and death, how great the grief that mars even the happiest of earthly abodes!
“With my wife and family we have-made many a home in different countries and cities. Some of these have been more pleasantly situated and satisfactory than others. But using the telescope of faith I see a home, in the shadows of which every residence of our present mundane sphere will eventually sink into irretrievable oblivion. That home of which I am now thinking is the final home of the saints. If you are a saint of God, and do not have a very pleasant home at present, you will certainly be interested in this better home to which you are heir.
“The first chapter of the Bible opens with the, glorious picture of this world in all Edenic beauty, unmarred by sin-the birth of a beautiful world. Isaiah tells us that it was not created in vain; ‘God formed it to be inhabited.’ Yes, on the sixth day of creative preparation, the earth was ready to be given into the care of its king and his beautiful bride. They were to have dominion over all living creatures. And the delicacies which grew upon plant and tree, except the tree which God reserved as a mark of His supreme ownership http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auhttp://www.ThreeAngels.com.auwere for the free use of our first parents. They were to be ‘fruitful, and multiply,’ filling the earth with perfect, sinless beings.
“The seventh day was given as a gift of sacred rest, a weekly reminder of the glorious creation and its Creator. All was ‘very good.’ The tree of life, to perpetuate glorious eternal youth was there.
“But the next scene is a tragedy! The deed that brought old age-sin. Sin entered and death began to claim its victims. Farewell, garden of God! Farewell, tree of life! Farewell, beautiful home, land of eternal youth! ‘The wages of sin is death.’
GOD’S PLAN
“But was God’s original plan eternally frustrated? Oh, no! Behold the Lord revealing the plan of salvation even to the first sinners. Genesis 3:15 was God’s assurance that He had a plan which would defeat Satan, who had usurped authority, through man’s yielding to the temptation. Isaiah 14:27 states, ‘The Lord of hosts bath purposed, and who shall disannul it?’ Genesis 3:16 teaches that more would be born into the world than according to God’s original plan. Now, because of sin, the earth will finally be ‘replenished,’ or filled to the required number through the new birth, or regeneration, rather than by the natural birth. A plan was devised to save all, but all are not willing to be saved. But when the number required to ‘replenish’ the earth is made up, God’s original plan of a world filled with sinless being will be effected.
“Even the earth, now under the curse of Genesis 3:17, will be redeemed. Luke 19:10 says: ‘For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that [not only those] which was lost.’ And one of the things that man lost was his original glorious home. That indeed will be restored.
“Behold the Lord promising Abraham, the ‘father of the faithful,’ that he should inherit the whole world, north, south, east, and west. Genesis 13:14-16; Romans 4:13. And yet we read in Acts 7:2-5 of how Abraham received no ‘inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on.’ He had to purchase a piece of ground for the burial of his wife. Did the promise fail? Let us understand the promise as Abraham did. Hebrews 11:9-16 teaches that he looked for the city which answers to the description of the ‘New Jerusalem’-a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Abraham expected to receive the promise, not in this world in its present sinful condition,-but when it is renewed after the millennium. At this time Revelation 21 describes that city with its twelve foundations, descending to this earth ‘prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.’
NEW HEAVEN AND NEW EARTH
“Bible writers under the influence of the Holy Spirit tell of an ‘inheritance that shall be for ever,’ of the land where the inhabitants shall not say, ‘I am sick,’ of a country where ‘the sun shall no more go down,’ of a kingdom that shall ‘stand for ever,’ and of a ‘new heaven and a new earth’ that shall never pass away. Then will be fulfilled the truth of Matthew 5:5, ‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.’ That inheritance which will be for ever shall not be bordered on either side by cemeteries. And the inhabitants will have learned the ways of God during their millennial reign in heaven, so that at their return to this earth in its renewed state, His will may indeed be ‘done on earth as it is in heaven.’
“Think of the thrills that await the faithful saints who are now blind, deaf, dumb, or crippled. For Isaiah 35:5, 6 states: ‘Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.’ Picture the lover of animals viewing the scene described in Isaiah 11:6, and 65:25: ‘The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the Young lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, said the Lord.’
“There is something very tangible about the rewards of the saved, very different from the vague ethereal conception entertained by many. I have been asked, ‘Will we know each other there?’ 1 Corinthians 13:12 says: ‘Then shall I know even as also I am known.’ Isaiah 66:22-23 gives evidence of literal worshippers coming ‘from one Sabbath to another’ to worship before the Lord. Isaiah 65:17-25 pictures the dwellers in the ‘new earth’ building houses, and planting and eating the fruit of their labors. That is a picture of the rural home of the saved. But they also have a city residence just as real.
THE “NEW JERUSALEM”
“And what a city! The ‘New Jerusalem,’ as described in Revelation 21. It is built in a perfect square, 375 miles on each side, having an area of 10,625 square miles, or 90,000,000 acres. Its twelve foundations beautifully colored bear the names of the twelve ‘apostles of the Lamb.’ And the twelve gates, each composed of one pearl, are named according to the twelve tribes of Israel. ‘And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.’ And all this surpassing splendor is illuminated with a brilliance eclipsing the sun. ‘For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.’
“The curse pronounced in Genesis is lifted in the last page of inspiration. Revelation 22. The tree of life is restored. The throne of God is established. Jesus will be there. ‘They shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads and they shall reign for ever and ever.’ Revelation 21:4 says: ‘And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.’
THE “NEW EARTH”
“I will conclude with a description of the ‘New Earth,’ from the pen of Uriah Smith, author of the book, ‘Thoughts on Daniel and Revelation.’ He writes: ‘I see fields smiling in living green, trees majestic in their wealth of verdure, flowers dazzling with their rainbow hues, and on neither field nor tree nor flower do I see the touch of frost or the pale hand of decay. I see no footprints of the curse, no scars of sin. I see no pestilence walking in darkness, nor destruction wasting at noonday. I see no forms distorted with pain, nor brows furrowed with anxiety and care. I see no mournful shafts telling where weary forms and sad and broken hearts have gone down in dust and darkness. I see no painful messages passing over that land, telling that a friend, a brother, a fellow laborer, has fallen beneath the cruel stroke of a relentless foe. I see no darkened room where the tide of a precious life is ebbing slowly away. I see no bosoms heaving with anguish, no badges of mourning, no funeral trains, no yawning, insatiate graves. But on the other hand I see a glorious company who bear bright palms of victory over death and the grave.
“I see every eye sparkling with the fullness of the joy that reigns within. I see on every cheek the bloom of eternal youth and everlasting health. I see every limb lithe and strong. I see the lame man leaping as a hart. I see the blind gazing with rapture on the celestial glory. I see the deaf listening enchanted to the heavenly melody. I see the dumb joining with loud voice in the anthems of praise. I see the mother clasping to her bosom the children she had lost awhile in the land of the enemy, but now recovered for ever. I see long-parted friends meet in eternal reunion.
“I see a river so clear and pure, so charged with every element of refreshment and life that it is called “the river of-life.” I see a tree overarching all, so healing in its leaves, so vivifying in its fruits that it is called “the tree of life!’ I see a great white throne, in whose effulgence there is no need of moon or sun to give us light. I hear a voice saying to that victorious company, “This is your rest for ever, and you shall no more be acquainted with grief; for there shall be no more pain nor death, and sorrow and mourning have for ever fled away.”
“And in all the universe I then see no trace of sin or suffering, but I hear from every world and from every creature a joyous anthem, like the sound of many waters, going up to God; and they say, “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sits upon the throne, and unto the lamb for ever and ever!’ Surely we must be there.”
Justification by faith; Subject that shook Europe.
A FERVENT address, evidently animated by the speaker’s conviction of its truthfulness, was delivered in the Naval Hall on Sunday night. Man’s natural condition, and the only possible way to escape the “wages of sin,” was graphically described. The speaker, Pastor Mitchell, said:
“The subject for our consideration tonight is that which is generally known in theological phraseology as ‘Justification by Faith,’ or ‘Salvation by Grace.’ Personally I always think of it as ‘the subject that shook Europe four centuries ago’; for at that time this very subject changed the whole history http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auof Europe and the lives of millions of earth’s inhabitants, then and ever since. It is the basis of the Christian’s hope, and the foundation platform of Christianity.
SEARCHING FOR THE LOST
“When we use the term, ‘salvation,’ it immediately implies that those in need of such are lost. Have you ever been lost in a forest? Think of the feeling of doom that would overwhelm you. And how it stirs our souls to hear of one that is lost. Dozens, scores, hundreds, if need be, volunteer for the search. In the Australian bush many have searched for hours or days as the case may be, for someone that was lost.
“In New Zealand there are times when one becomes lost in the snow that covers the ranges. I have before me newspaper photos showing a party of men searching for the body of a college student who was swept to his death by an avalanche of snow not many miles from the metropolitan city of the South Island. Days of time were spent, and hundreds of tons of snow were shoveled, for the sake of recovering the lost body.
“Back in 1929, when air pilots Smith and Ulm were lost in the interior of Australia, noble-hearted rescuers set out in planes, some even forgetting to take adequate supplies of food and water for themselves. I was in New Zealand at that time, and read columns concerning the incident. Here is part of a report from a New Zealand newspaper: ‘From Ulm’s diary: ‘Friday, April 12, 9:50 AM. Saved!
Captain Holden’s Canberra appears from the south-east-God! It’s all too wonderful! Food! Smithy and Litch rushed down from Darlinghurst Hill with tears in their eyes and giving whoops of joy-Holden returned to Wyndham, dropping a message that he would come again with more food. God bless him! God bless everybody!”
“What I want you to notice particularly, however, is the following statement published in the same paper: ‘Not since the Armistice has any item of news stirred Australia as did the brief announcement that the Southern Cross was found on Friday.’ Yes, as a duty, we search for the lost, and rejoice in their salvation.
“In the midst of a storm that shrieked like a band of demons, a life-saving crew succeeded in saving all but one from a sailing ship which had been wrecked on the rocky coast of Scotland. After pulling ashore, one strong man said, ‘If another will go with me, I will go and get that man on the wreck.’ His mother restrained him. She reminded him that his father had been a sailor, and was lost in just such a storm., ‘And eight years ago,’ she said, ‘your brother William went to sea, and we have not heard of him since. No doubt he ‘ too, has found a watery grave. You are my only support, you must not go.’
“But gently removing her arms from around his neck, he said, ‘Mother, out there a man is in peril. I believe it is my duty to rescue the man clinging to yonder wreck. If I am lost in doing my duty, God will take care of you.’ Then, after kissing her, he with his companion pulled the boat through the storm to the wreck. For those on shore a long and anxious wait followed. Finally through the mist and gathering darkness, they saw the boat returning. ‘Have you got the other man?’ they shouted. The noble, unselfish young life-saver, after lifting his hands to his mouth to trumpet the words through the howling storm, answered, ‘Yes; and tell mother I’ve got my brother William.’
“So it is with you and me. About us everywhere are perishing souls, clinging to earthly things which will soon be swept from them by the oncoming storm. They are our lost brothers. If one finds himself condemned by an earthly court, he immediately pays the fine and sets himself free. But how do we stand before the heavenly court?
THE ALL-IMPORTANT QUESTION
“Here is our natural position. ‘All have sinned.’ Romans 3:23. 1 John 3:4 says: ‘Sin is the transgression of the law.’ And Romans 6:23 says, ‘The wages of sin is death.’ And Revelation, chapter 20, describes the final punishment as the ‘second death’, from which there will be no resurrection. How can we meet this debt? Can we pay it and still live? What can we do here? This, it seems to me, is the all important question. We must frankly admit that in our own selves it means eternal doom. But at this juncture, how sweet are those words we hear floating over the air: ‘Help of the helpless, 0 abide with me.’ Is it possible that someone has taken up our case?
“But how can we escape our just reward? If the law were abolished, it could no longer condemn us, but that would excuse sin.
Had the first sinners been blotted out before sin had been seen in all its enormity, the universe would have served God from fear rather than from love. There was but one way left for Heaven’s supreme http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auhttp://www.ThreeAngels.com.auwisdom and justice. God would provide a substitute. It was the only way of love. Isaiah 53:6 describes it: ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord bath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’ The best-known text in all the world describes it thus: ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ John 3:16.
“The method of man’s salvation, and the parties involved are:
“1. By grace are you saved.’ Ephesians 2:8. This is God’s part. He extends His unmerited favor, enabling our reception of forgiveness for sins, with all the resultant advantages.
LUTHER HEARS THE MESSAGE
“It was the words of Romans 1:17, ‘The just shall live by faith,’ that entered the soul of Luther when lecturing to the students at Wittenburg. He heard it re-echoing again at Bologna. Later, that Saxon monk with deep earnestness was slowly ascending Pilate’s staircase’ at Rome upon his knees when again he heard a voice of thunder crying from the bottom of his heart, ‘The just shall live by faith.’
These words that twice before had struck him like the voice of an angel from God resounded unceasingly and powerfully within him. He rose in amazement from the steps up which he was dragging his body; he was ashamed of seeing to what a depth superstition had plunged him. He left the scene, to carry to the world the message that changed his country, and spread abroad. It was the message, ‘The just shall live by faith.’
In 1 John 1:9 states: ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ My mother required us when children to re-wash to her satisfaction. We did not cleanse thoroughly. But when Jesus promises to cleanse, He does a perfect work. Isaiah 1:19 says: ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.’ Psalm 103:12 says: ‘As far as the cast is from the west, so far bath He removed our transgres-1ons from us.’ Not only that, but He promises to ‘save from our sins.’ Matthew 1:21 and Jude 1:24 speak of Him who is able ‘to keep you from falling.’ That is sanctification. Not just removing the stain, but the cause. Justification by faith is our title to heaven. Sanctification or righteousness imparted is our fitness for heaven.
“The fourth section of this subject is the evidence of justification. How can we know that we are justified by faith, and saved by grace? This is a very important part of the subject. The evidence is a change of life from willful sin to willing obedience and works of righteousness. Anything in the nature of sin, which is disobedience to God’s commandments, will become hateful to the person who is truly saved. ‘If one is not saved from sin,’ he is not saved at “all, for that is where salvation begins. James 2:14-20 explains it. ‘What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he bath faith, and hath not works? can faith save him? ... But wilt you know, 0 vain man, that faith without works is dead?’ An empty profession, or mere head-knowledge belief, is useless, if there is no love and gratitude that produces a life of obedience.
FAITH AND DEEDS
“To illustrate. Picture a man in a boat with two oars. One he calls faith, the other, works. ‘Oh,’ he says, ‘I do not believe in works! I’ll depend on and pull the oar of faith.’ But he simply turns in a circle. Losing confidence in faith, he pulls the oar of works, but makes no better progress. Eventually he pulls both oars and makes straight for the desired haven. So in the Christian life. Faith which produces the works of a holy life is necessary. Anything else is presumption, not faith. It was Moody who said:-
“I would not work my soul to save,
For that my Lord hath done,
But I would work like any slave,
For the love of God’s dear Son.”
“I have read of a striking incident from the American slave days. A stalwart Negro when being auctioned affirmed that he would never work as a slave for any man. However, the bidding reached the sum of 1,400 dollars. Again the Negro warned the purchaser that he would die rather than work as a slave. But the money was paid over. Then Mr. Grace turns to the Negro and says: ‘Sam, you are a free man, I bought you to set you free. I’ll take these handcuffs off you.’ The colored man was greatly moved by this sudden announcement.
‘Oh, Mr. Grace,’ he said, ‘I love you. I’ll work for you just as long as I live. I want to show you that beneath this colored breast, there beats a heart that can respond to a love like yours. I want to work for you for ever because I love you.’
“But I want to change the scene. Leave the American slave market, and come with me to the garden of Gethsemane, the night before the crucifixion of Christ. Jesus as the sin-bearer is feeling the terrible burden. Not the literal crucifixion, but the separation from His Father, which as the sinners’ substitute He must experience, was pressing heavily upon Him. Hear His heart-touching, thrice repeated prayer, as recorded in Matthew 26:38-44, ‘O My Father, if it be possible’ let this cup pass from Me.’ But for our sakes He adds, ‘Nevertheless not as I will, but as You wilt.’ The destiny of mankind hangs in the balance of the Savior’s decision. The submissive Savior prays, ‘If this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.’
“Now view the Savior falling beneath the burden of the cross on the way to Calvary. But the climax comes when as the sinners’ substitute, He no longer addresses God as His Father; but in the agonies of the cross, He cries out, ‘My God, My God, why has You forsaken Me?’
“Behold the price paid for your redemption and mine! Infinitely more than 1,400 dollars. Out of gratitude the Negro says, ‘I will work for you all the days of my life.’ What is your response to Christ for what He has done in purchasing your salvation? Jesus says, ‘If you love Me, keep My commandments.’ Out of gratitude, if we get the right view of Gethsemane and Calvary, we will say, ‘O Lord, I love Thee. By Thy grace I will obey Thy commandments; I will serve Thee faithfully all the days of my life.”
Their eternal jurisdiction overall men.
1
You shall have no other gods before Me.
2
You shall not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.
3
You shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain.
4
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it you shall not do any work, you, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
5
Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God gives thee.
6
You shall not kill.
7
You shall not commit adultery.
8
You shall not steal.
9
You shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
10
You shall not covet thy neighbor’s house. You shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.
“THE Ten Commandments are different from all other codes of law and all other literature without exception. They comprise the one short document, the only words known to men, which were ‘written with the finger of God.’ Have you read that document of Exodus 20:3-17? Have you recognized the royal dignity and majestic superiority of that sacred message? Have you realized the solemn significance, and sacred importance of those ten royal commands direct from the hand of God? They are the eternal ten, the moral standard required by God of all men during all time. Men may flout them, deny them, claim to be free from their jurisdiction while persistently violating them, or presumptuously boast of a license to ignore and transgress them; but a decree which man cannot alter rings out in judicial warning, ‘So speak you, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law.’ James 2:12.
With this introduction, Pastor Mitchell spoke on “The Wonderful Ten Commandments and Their Eternal jurisdiction Over All Men,” in the Naval Hall on Sunday night. Continuing, he said:
“I would not have you to think that this Ten-Commandment law is just an ordinary set of laws. It is not. It bears the marks of the superhuman. Never has any legislative assembly framed such a concise yet comprehensive set of laws. During the course of an evening’s discussion out from Ashburton, New Zealand, a preacher asked me if I did not see that folk were converted before I spoke to them of the law of God. In my reply I drew attention to the words of Psalm 19:7, ‘The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.’
FROM THE VERY BEGINNING
“I propose to show that while this wonderful Ten-Commandment law was not committed to writing by God till after the exodus from Egypt to Sinai, yet it was in existence, and recognized by the faithful from the very beginning.
“Firstly, let it be noted that, ‘Sin is the transgression of the law.’ 1 John 3:4. And Romans 4:15 states, ‘Where no law is, there is no transgression.’ Now is that clearly fixed in your minds? To illustrate: If there were no law against riding unlighted bicycles at night, then you could ride without a light and not break the law. It must be obvious that a law that does not exist could not be transgressed by anyone. And Romans 5:13 teaches that the law existed before it was committed to writing, for it states, ‘Sin is not imputed when there is no law.’ Therefore if people were charged with sin before Sinai, the law must have existed before then.
“Now, where do we find the entrance of sin into this world? Why, our first parents coveted and stole the forbidden fruit in Eden.
Then Genesis’4:7, 8 records the murder of Abel by Cain. Before Cain committed this act, Abel, speaking to him, said, ‘Sin lies at the door.’ Genesis 4:7. Cain sinned. His act was recognized as sin. Hence it is, evident that he had a knowledge of the law, for ‘sin is not imputed when there is no law.’ And the Bible definition of sin is ‘the transgression of the law.’
“We find that all the Ten Commandments were known and recognized hundreds ‘of years before Sinai’s proclamation. When the sensual wife of Potiphar attempted to seduce Joseph, he answered, ‘How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’ Genesis 39:7-9. Surely the seventh commandment, ‘You shall not commit adultery’ was well known in Joseph’s day. The whole of Genesis 34 also teaches how this sin was regarded at that time, hundreds of years before it was committed to writing at Sinai.
REAFFIRMED AT SINAI
“The Sabbath of the fourth commandment was given to our first parents at creation, and was observed by the people of God before ever it was proclaimed at Sinai. When Moses was preparing the people of Israel for the exodus movement, Pharaoh complained that Moses made them ‘rest’ from their burdens. Exodus 5:5. The Hebrew word here is Shabath (as can be verified from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. Hebrew section, word no. 7673), and means ‘keep Sabbath.’ The oppressed Israelites were losing, in their Egyptian bondage, their obedience to tile commandments known and kept by their great ancestor Abraham. God led them out from Egypt, and reaffirmed His great moral commandments at Sinai, not as a new or unheard-of law, but so that all might be impressed with the importance of His eternal precepts.
“His law was known before they ever reached Sinai. Before ever the manna began to fall, Exodus A records Moses explaining that none would fall on the Sabbath. The way they regarded the Sabbath was to be a test of their fidelity toward the whole law of God. Exodus 16:4, 5 states, ‘Then said the Lord unto Moses, behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or not. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.’ The chapter teaches that the law was known, and they were to be tested on obedience before they came to Sinai.
“When some violated the Sabbath command, Exodus 16:28 records the question:
‘And the Lord said unto Moses, how long refuse you to keep My commandments I and My laws?’ Having now established by indisputable proof that the law of God existed right from the very beginning, where its transgression was imputed as sin, we will now see that its jurisdiction continues over all men till the end of time.
“That all mankind is under the jurisdiction of the law is shown from Romans 3:19: ‘Now We know that what things so ever the law said, it said to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped.’ Further, the New Testament does not suggest the abolition of God’s law, but it teaches the exact opposite, that we must meet it in the judgment. James 2:10-12 states: ‘For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if you commit no adultery, yet if you kill, you art become a transgressor of the law. So speak you, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.’
“Jesus said: ‘For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.’ Matthew 5:18. Heaven and earth are still here, hence the law of God remains unaltered. Luke 16:17 states: ‘And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.’ And then John, the apostle of love, uses the strong language of 1 John 2:3, 4: ‘And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that said, I know Him, and keeps not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.’
“In my previous address, I spoke of the New Jerusalem; notice this text from the closing chapter of the New Testament, Revelation 22:14: ‘Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.’ Thus we have traced the commandments from the very beginning even to the entrance of the pearly gates of the New Jerusalem.”
Their relationship to the Christian era.
SPEAKING on the subject of the “Ten Commandments in the New Testament and in the Christian Era,” in the Naval Hall on Sunday night, Pastor Mitchell said:
“In my association with the various schools of thought during the years of time spent in evangelistic mission work, I have found some who were under the impression that the Ten Commandments, while taught in the Old Testament, were not endorsed by the New Testament. Others I have met contended that all but the Sabbath was re-endorsed in the New Testament. The simple truth, however, is that the whole of the Ten Commandments in their entirety are recognized and endorsed in the New Testament as binding upon Christians.
THE WHOLE LAW
“I have already in previous lectures referred to the teaching of Christ on this matter, that ‘till heaven and earth pass,’ not one jot or tittle would pass from the law. Now I want you to notice what James says: ‘For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. For if you commit no adultery, yet if you kill, you art become a transgressor of the law. So speak you, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.’ James 2:10-12.
“This Book of James was written in AD 60, about thirty years after Christ was crucified, or thirty years within the Christian dispensation. And at that time James is drawing attention to the necessity of standardizing our lives by ‘the whole law.’ Now what constitutes ‘the whole law’? Two of the Ten Commandments are mentioned, the sixth and the seventh, so there is no doubt as to what law James is referring. He had in mind the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20. Now he refers to the ‘whole’ of this law as being intact, and still operative. What constitutes the ‘whole’ of this law? In Deuteronomy 4:13 we find that God ‘commanded Ten Commandments,’ and that completed His law; ‘Ten,’ no more, but no less. Deuteronomy 5:22 we find very specifically stating, ‘And He added no more.’ This law of Ten Commandments, was distinct from all other laws. It was made up of ‘ten’ commandments with nothing else added. Ten Commandments then comprise ‘the whole law.’ And James recognizes the ‘whole law,’ as binding, and draws attention to it as the standard in the day of judgment. This for ever settles the fact that the New Testament re-endorses the whole of the Ten Commandments.
“Now he who has been under the impression that the commandment which says, ‘The seventh day is the Sabbath,’ has been deleted, must never forget that it is the fourth of the ‘Ten’ Commandments, the ‘whole’ of which continues to operate in the Christian dispensation, and will continue, according to the verse, even to the judgment.
PAUL AND THE COMMANDMENTS
“A knowledge of the New Testament doctrine of sin teaches the same truth.
1 John 3:4 says: ‘Sin is the transgression of the law.’ And Paul in Romans 7:7 said, ‘I had not known sin, but by the law.’ Paul, the inspired apostle of God, had no other way of knowing what constituted sin except by the law of the Ten Commandments in the New Testament era. Paul made no reference to a modified law with certain of the Ten Commandments deleted, for Christ had said that not one jot or tittle would pass from that sacred law, that was written ‘with the finger of God.’ Contrasting that which had passed away with the law of Moses with that which remained, 1 Corinthians 7:19, states: ‘Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.’
‘We may deceive ourselves into saying that if we accept Christ ‘as our Savior, the law has no claims upon us; that we are ‘free from the law, 0 happy condition!’ Paul accepted Christ as his Savior, but he never said anything like that. He had faith in Christ, and in the whole plan of salvation; but listen to him: ‘Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yes, we establish the law.’ Romans 3:31.
GOD’S NEW-COVENANT PLAN
“By accepting Christ, if we really do accept Him, it is, ‘That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.’ Romans 8:4. Then by accepting Christ, we are brought into perfect harmony with the Ten Commandments. His Holy Spirit if allowed will write the law on our hearts. If He is not allowed to write the commandments on our hearts in their entirety, it is evidence that we are not converted. Listen to the new-covenant relationship as recorded in Hebrews 10:16: ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, said the Lord, I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.’ So http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auinstead of getting further away from the commandments, God’s new-covenant plan is to make them part of us, by writing them in our minds and hearts.
“To claim to worship God while rejecting any- part of His law is recognized in the New Testament as ‘vain worship.’
“If we say we expect to have a part in the New Jerusalem, but we will not keep the commandments in their entirety, we are confronted with this scripture: ‘Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.’ Revelation 22:14.
“Now remembering the New Testament doctrine of sin, that ‘sin is the transgression of the law,’ read the words of Hebrews 10:26, 27: ‘For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.’ Hence the New Testament teaches just as forcibly the importance of recognizing the Ten Commandments as does the Old Testament. Only by the indwelling Christ is the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us. But this righteousness of the law can never be fulfilled in the life of the man or woman whose mind is in rebellion against any part of it.”
Distinct from the law of God.
“IT is impossible for anyone to understand the great truths of the Bible without a clear knowledge of the distinct difference between the ceremonial temporary law of Moses, and the eternal law of God, or Ten Commandments,” said Pastor Mitchell, when introducing the subject of the law of Moses in the Naval Hall on Wednesday night. He further said:
“In addition to my public lectures, I have spent hours studying this subject with various individuals. I have found even keen Bible students who had never recognized the difference between these two laws, but after careful study clearly saw that the law of God and the law of Moses are two laws, separate and distinct.
“2 Kings 21:8, and Nehemiah 9:13, 14, clearly show that while God delivered a law direct to His people by word of mouth, and from His own hand, yet He also, in addition to that, refers to ‘the law that My servant Moses commanded them.’ The law of God, or Ten Commandments, is as we saw in our previous lecture, the eternal, everlasting moral law of God, for all time and for all men. It is God’s standard of righteousness now, for ever, and in the judgment. Even Paul said, ‘I had not known sin, but by the law.’ It is the sin detector.
God governs His universe by it. ‘All His commandments are sure, they stand fast for ever and ever.’ Psalm 3:7, 8. That statement, together with the many similar New Testament statements, for ever settles the matter of the perpetuity of the law of God. It was never to be altered or abolished.
THE TWO LAWS
“But now listen to the words of Ephesians 2:15: ‘Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances.’ And Hebrews 7:12 says: ‘For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change of the law.’ How do we account for this change of thought? Does Paul here contradict his statement in Romans 3:31, where he says, ‘Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yes, we establish the law.’ No, my friends, there is no contradiction, but there are two laws. Faith in Christ establishes the law of Ten Commandments, for, if it could have been abolished, Christ’s atoning sacrifice for its violation would have been unnecessary.
“But on the other hand the death of Christ automatically brought an end to the law of Moses. The law of Moses contained the ceremonies and ordinances governing the animal sacrifices of the ancient priesthood services, which were emblems or types of the greater sacrifice of the ‘Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world.’ Notice carefully that Paul speaks of ‘the law of commandments contained in ordinances.’ Not moral precepts, but church ceremonies or ordinances. And the citation in Hebrews giving the reason for the change of the law, says, ‘For the priesthood being changed.’ It was the law that had to do http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auwith the priesthood then, that was changed. This was the law of ordinances given by Moses containing directions concerning the sacrificing of animals under the direction of the priesthood.
DISTINCTION BETWEEN LAWS
“Were I to take the time, I could show from various church catechisms and authoritative writings that the orthodox church teaching clearly recognizes the distinction between these two laws. Mrs. Booth, the wife of the founder of the Salvation Army, saw the importance of a clear understanding of this subject of the two laws. In her book, ‘Aggressive Christianity,’ she writes: ‘I find frequently a total misapprehension as to the meaning of the apostle, and a total confounding of the moral with the ceremonial law. Now, always mind, when you read anything about the law, to examine and find out which law is meant, whether it is the great moral law, which never has been, and never can be abrogated, or the ceremonial law, which in Christ certainly was done way. Mind which, because your salvation may depend upon that point. If you make a mistake there you may be lost through it; therefore, be very careful.’
“Here are just a few of the many contrasting views of the two laws: The law of God, or Ten Commandments, was spoken by God direct to the people. God wrote them. He ‘added no more.’ He wrote them the second time and each time on tables of stone. They were placed inside the ark of the covenant. Exodus 20:1-22; Deuteronomy 4:12, 13; 5:22; 10:1-5. Whereas the law of Moses was spoken by Moses, written by Moses in a book, and placed in the side of the ark of the sanctuary. Leviticus 1:1-3; Deuteronomy 31:24-26.
“Then, again, the unchangeable law of God gave directions with regard to the observance of the weekly seventh-day Sabbath. The law of Moses gave directions with regard to duties on the seven yearly Sabbaths of Leviticus 23. These annual sacred days such as the Passover were typical of events to be fulfilled by Christ. Christ was crucified on the fourteenth day of the first month, the day of the year on which the Passover lamb had been slain for centuries. But when Christ was crucified, this and the other annual Sabbath days automatically lapsed. They were shadows, or types, of something more important. These annual Sabbaths are what Colossians 2:16, 17 refers to as ‘the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come.’
WHEN CHRIST CAME
“This was the law which was added because the moral law was broken, and sin came into the world. Galatians 3:10 refers to it as the ‘book of the law.’ And in the nineteenth verse, Paul speaks of it as the law that was ‘added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made,’ or, in other words, as verse 16 points out, till Christ should come, He being the ‘seed’ referred to. When the ‘veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom’ at the death of Jesus, it signified the end of the typical sacrificial system whereby the blood of animals was carried into the temple. The law of the priesthood had fulfilled its purpose. Christ, the antitypical Lamb, had died to become our great ‘High Priest’ of the heavenly sanctuary.
“The purpose of the law of Moses, or the ‘law contained in ordinances’ then, according to Hebrews 9, was to govern a typical system for all believers till the time of Christ. And the purpose of the law of God is to reveal God’s standard of righteousness, now, for ever, and in the judgment.
“God’s law of Ten Commandments is spoken of in James 2:10-12 as a ‘law of liberty.’ The law of Moses dealing with circumcision and other ordinances before mentioned is referred to as a ‘yoke of bondage’ in Galatians 5:1-3. God’s law remains for ever. Matthew 5: 17-19. The law of ordinances was ‘nailed to the cross.’ Colossians 2: 14-17. The transgression of God’s law is sin. 1 John 3:4. But the ceremonial ,law was ‘added because of sin.’ These are only some of the many distinct differences between these two laws. Mind how you study them.”
But no contradictions.
“IN order that this series of lectures on the law of God be as instructive and helpful as possible, I plan now to discuss a few texts which to the average reader present difficulties,” said Pastor Mitchell in the http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auNaval Hall on Wednesday night. “You know Peter speaks of Paul as writing things ‘hard to be understood.’ 2 Peter 3:15, 16. The only way to be clear that we have the truth on such texts is to allow the great number of plain texts to illuminate and explain the comparatively few difficult texts.
CHRIST AND THE LAW
“The first text upon which I wish to comment tonight is Romans 10:4. This text was cited recently by a correspondent in our local city newspaper. It reads thus: ‘For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.’ Now, before we find out just what this text means, let us first notice what it does not mean. Paul does not teach by this text that faith in Christ separates the believer from the law in any sense whatsoever, for notice his plain statement in Romans 3:31: ‘Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yes, we establish the law.’ Now note that faith in Christ establishes the law. No law could be ended and established at the same time.
“Further, Paul could not teach that ‘Christ was the end of the law,’ in the sense of finality, or of its being destroyed by Christ, for Matthew 5:17-19 teaches that Christ does not even want us to think along that line. ‘Think not that I am come to destroy the law,’ said Christ. So we must think along another line. And right here we find the meaning of our text. The word ‘end’ is often used in the sense of ‘purpose,’ or ‘object.’
“The verses before and after the text in question show that Paul is discussing Israel’s failure to attain to the righteousness which the law demanded because of their failure to accept Christ. Israel failed to understand that it was the purpose, object, or end of the law to lead the sinner to Christ, ‘that the ‘righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.’ It is not the end, object, or purpose of the law to impart righteousness, for to use the words of Paul, ‘Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.’ It is not the end of the law to forgive the sinner, it cannot atone for sin, hence it cannot impart righteousness. The law reveals sin. It tells the sinner he is guilty. The sinner is thus made conscious of his need of a Savior from his sin. Christ is the only Savior from sin, hence Christ is the end or object to which the law directs. The purpose or end of the law is thus to direct us to Christ for righteousness.
CONTINUITY OF LAW
“Let us get another verse or two to show that the word ‘end’ is often used in the sense of purpose or object. In the fifth chapter of James, we read: ‘Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord.’ Now, all Christians know that the Lord’s existence has not ended. Likewise with the dozens of plain New Testament texts teaching the continuity of the law of God we know that, with its Maker, it continues.
“When Pilate asked Jesus, ‘Art You a king then?’ Jesus’ reply was, ‘To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world.’ John 18:37. The word ‘end’ here means purpose. So the purpose or end of the law is Christ. The same form of speech is seen in 1 Timothy 1:5: ‘Now the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.’
‘Another text of Scripture upon which questions are asked, is John 13:34: ‘A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.’ First of all, let me ask: What is new in this new commandment? It is not the general principle of love one for another, for away back in Leviticus 19:18, we read, ‘You shall love thy neighbor as thyself.’ And in Deuteronomy 6:5 we read: ‘And you shall love the Lord thy God with all your heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.’ And then these two great basic principles of love to God, and love to our fellow-men, are again brought before us in Matthew 22:37-40, as the foundation upon which ‘all the law’ is built. So then love as a necessary principle was not a new thing.
STANDARD OF LOVE
“Now what is new in the new command given by Christ? Why, it is the standard of love, ‘as I have loved you.’ Before the standard was to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.’ Now the standard is higher. Christ loved us better than He loved Himself. He died not only for His friends, but ‘while we were yet sinners’ and ‘when we were yet enemies,’ ‘Christ died for us.’ The standard of love to which we are now directed is to love one another as Christ has loved us. It is indeed a high standard, and will be reached by us only when the ‘love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us,’ which is the teachings of Romans, chapter 5.
1 John 2:7, 8, states: ‘Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. Again a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you.’ It is the old commandment in a new setting. The same principles of love, but the higher standard in Christ. It is only new in as much as Christ has given us the higher example of loving others better than ourselves.
FOLLOWING CHRIST’S EXAMPLE
“My closing remarks concern the word ‘fulfill’ of Matthew 5:17, I wish to compare it with Matthew, chapter 3. Here we find Jesus coming to be baptized by John. John feels unworthy. Then Jesus speaks: ‘Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Christ’s being baptized, though it enabled Him to ‘fulfill all righteousness,’ did not release us from following His example in that particular ordinance. To the contrary, by accepting Christ in our hearts we will follow His example.
“Likewise Christ fulfilled the law, not that we may thereby be free to transgress it, but that we following His example will do likewise. If He is allowed to live out His life within our hearts, His living in us will enable us to fulfill, fully accomplish, or carry out, the same law that He fulfilled in His own life while on earth. Thus the teaching of Romans 8:4 will be our experience: ‘That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.”
False road signs lead to “ways of death.”
“IN my travels on public highways in different countries, I have noticed some striking signboards. On the beautiful, yet precipitous roads of New Zealand are to be found such signs as ‘safety first, change down,’ and ‘change to low gear.’ In another country there are signs, such as: ‘Go slow, you may meet a fool.’ ‘Go slow, see our city; go fast, see our jail,’ and ‘This road is not foolproof, don’t speed.”‘ With this introduction, Pastor Mitchell spoke on Sunday night in the Naval Hall, on the subject, “Can Christians Keep the Ten Commandments?”
Continuing, he said public highways are not “foolproof,” neither is the highway of this life from the cradle to the kingdom “foolproof.” Proverbs 14:12 was read: “There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death!’ There is such a thing as speeding through this life toward the celestial city, and on the highway meeting a “fool” and being ditched by his false doctrine, and as a result lose eternal life. Everyone will surely do this if he is like the “fool” of the highway who leaves his destiny to fate or to what some man says, and does not take what the Almighty has said for a standard of living. There is a way that is right-it may not seem right to most people, but it is right-that is the way of “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus!’ Revelation 14:12.
If the man who travels the public highway will not covet his neighbour’9 side of the road or steal his place on the street, keep away from the “road hog,” and follow the traffic signs, he will have no collisions. So it is with the Christian traveler. If he follows God’s Word, keeping always to the course marked out by the Ten Commandments, and at the dangerous curves of temptation slows down for meditation and prayer, ever keeping in mind the virtues of Christ, and His noble life, he will have a safe journey. The devil will not be able to wreck him, for in his obedience to God’s commandments he is wiser than the adversary.
“THE WAYS OF DEATH”
Continuing, the speaker said: “In my travels on the spiritual highway, I have met many who have signaled me to stop, then they have advised me to travel in a popular alley, leading from the true course. I have noted that it is the course taken by a large majority, but from a study of the chart and compass, I have seen clearly that it leads into the ‘ways of death,’ for it leads to willing disobedience to the commandments of God, and finally to utter ignoring and scorning of them. I am grateful that I have had grace to keep to the correct course, marked out in Psalm 119:32, ‘I will run the way of Thy commandments, when You shall enlarge my heart.’ It takes a large heart, and much of the grace of God, but it is the only safe course.
“I have met fellow travelers who not only willfully violate God’s traffic rules, contend that it is not necessary to keep the Ten Commandments. They say they were for ancient travelers only, excellent for them, but that now the highway restrictions are few; we may drive where we please, it is just a matter of love. As much as to say, ‘I love God so much, and God loves me so much, that He doesn’t care what I do: neither do I.”
He contended that no greater delusion could come to any man than this. For when one takes such a course of disobedience, he takes a course of sin with a free conscience. To such a one, Christ is not a Savior from sin, but a giver of license to commit sin. It was pointed out that the only person who can keep the commandments, is the one who is saved by grace, saved from sin. If Christ is in the heart, the enemy cannot defeat you; but if Christ is not in the heart, you cannot defeat the enemy. There was power in Christ to give victory over every sin, and sin, it was shown from I John 3:4, “is the transgression of the law!’ Matthew 1:21 was cited: “You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.” To deny that it was possible to keep the Ten Commandments, said Mr. Mitchell, was to deny the power of the living Savior.
OBEDIENCE TO LAW OF GOD
It was shown that some of the strongest language in Scripture points to the necessity of obedience to the law of God. The following was read from the New Testament: “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified” (Romans 2:13), and “circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.” 1 Corinthians 7:19. 1 John 2:3, 4 was also cited as saying: “And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that said, I know Him, and keeps not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” From the second chapter of James was read: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if you commit no adultery, yet if you kill, you art become a transgressor of the law. So speak you, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.”
From the Book of Revelation, further scriptures were read to show that at the coming of Christ those who would be prepared to meet their Savior would be commandment-keepers. “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus,” was read from Revelation 14:12
This, said the evangelist, is God’s description of the reception committee that will be waiting for the coming of Christ. From the last chapter of the Bible was read God’s benediction upon commandment-keepers, and their sure reward: ‘Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Revelation 22:14.
Obedience to God’s commandments may mean self-sacrifice, and sometimes the jeers of a certain class in this world, but what is that, compared to the blessing of God, the speaker asked. Mr. Mitchell appealed to the audience to follow God’s standards, and never to be switched off the platform of “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
The Bible and other Classics
THE difference between the Bible and other classics and good books was emphasized in an interesting way, in the lecture pavilion, by Pastor Mitchell, on Tuesday night. The following line of thought was pursued:-
Inasmuch as its claim to be the inspired Word of God is in evidence from the beginning to the end of its writings, the Bible because of this extraordinary claim must be the best of all books, or the worst. There is no escaping the logic of this position.
Many will say, “Oh, yes, the Bible is a very good book, but there are other good books.” Some will say, “Yes, the Bible is inspired, but so are the writings of Shakespeare, John Bunyan, Milton, Plato, and Socrates. So is the almanac.” It is useless to waste time on false issues. When I open a masterpiece of Shakespeare, I know the literary value of it. Well do I remember in my college days memorizing one hundred lines of Shakespeare’s writings for a quarterly examination, and being disappointed in not getting http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auone question on it in the examination. But to be sure, I have never read, “Thus said the Lord God of hosts,” as an introduction to any of Shakespeare’s writings.
If I turn to Plato’s writings, I do not read, “The word of the Lord came unto me,” or when I turn to the almanac for information, I do not read, “Hear you the word of the Lord.” But-over and over again while reading the Bible I am reminded that the message is from God.
CLAIMS TO INSPIRATION
Here are some samples of the claims of the writings of the Bible: “The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea.” Hosea 1:1.
“The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel.” Ezekiel E 3.
“The word of the Lord that came to Joel.” Joel 1:1.
“Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah.” Jonah 1:1.
And so it continues as you turn the pages over throughout the books of the Bible. “The burden of
the word of the Lord to Israel, by Malachi.” Malachi 1:1.
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John.” Revelation 1:1.
There is no question about it, the writers of the Bible claim that their messages are direct from God.
Now the message of the Bible is the Word of the Lord, or it is not. If it were not what it professes to be, it would not be even a good book. How are we to regard it? Is it the best book in the world, as even those who deny its divine inspiration usually admit, or are its claims to be inspired of God false claims? If it is-not the best book in the world, then because of what it claims to be it must be the worst. It claims to be the Word of God; if it is not, it is a lie, a deception, a swindle, a humbug, a fraud. Now, friends, do not be deceived by those who say that the Bible is a good book, but not the inspired Word of God. If it is a good book, it must be what it claims to be, and therefore its claims to being divinely Inspired must be correct.
WONDERFUL AUTHORSHIP
The method of receiving the messages of Holy Scripture is explained by the words of 2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”‘ And 2 Peter 1:21 states: “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” What a conglomeration of ideas would exist in the Bible if it were not for this fact, that holy men spoke and wrote as they were directed by the Holy Spirit!
The authorship of this book bears the imprint of the superhuman controlling hand. Its books are written by men in various walks of life, from the humble herdsman and fisherman, to the prime minister and king. Among its authors we find the very rich and the very poor, the preacher, the tax-gatherer, the exile, legislator, and judge, the man of brilliant education, and the upright yet poorly educated’. Men of various classes are represented in this wonderful volume, which is a veritable library filled with history, astronomy, physiology, genealogy, prophecy, poetry, law, eloquence, medicine, sanitary science, political economy, and perfect rules for the conduct of personal and social life. What a confusion of ideas there would be if there were not one great superhuman origin of all the knowledge which the Bible contains!
Suppose you were to get 66 medical books, written by 40 different doctors who had lived in turn over a period of 1,500 years; believers in hydropathy, homeopathy, allopathy, and all the other “pathies,” nature cure, chiropractor, healing scientist, and others. Bind these 66 books into one volume. What man would be foolish enough to risk the results of practicing such a system of medicine?
As 1,500 years of time rolled away during the writing of the Bible, the first writer had no communication with the last. How did those men, writing independently, and living under the environment of different ages, produce a book that has the same theme running harmoniously from its beginning to its end? Then ordinary books get out of date very often, when ten or twenty years old. This book, over a thousand years old before completed, lives on through the ages, keeping abreast of the mightiest intellect and thought of the age; and because of its prophecies it contains later information than the latest edition of the daily newspapers.
Suppose that some forty men should step into this lecture tent from all the States of Australia and Tasmania, and from the North and South Islands of New Zealand, each man bearing a block of marble of http://www.ThreeAngels.com.aupeculiar shape. Suppose those forty blocks when placed together present the figure of a man perfectly symmetrical and beautifully chiseled. How only could those men, many of whom had never seen each other, chisel out that beautiful statue? Why, you say, that is easily explained. The original plan was made by one man.
One man made the patterns, and directed each sculptor in his particular portion of the great statue. Each man worked under the direction of one masterly brain, followed the pattern, and perfection and accuracy are the result.
Very well now. This book, the Bible, coming from all quarters, written by men of all ranks, trades, and professions who lived over a period of 1,500 years is fitted together as a wonderfully harmonious and complete volume. How only could that be accomplished?
The answer is found in 2 Peter 1:21: “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” One mind inspires the whole book, one voice speaks from all its pages. It is the voice of God speaking with life-giving power.
EFFECT ON THE INDIVIDUAL
The effect of the Bible upon the individual who reads and studies it, constitutes further evidence of its divine authorship. There are men the world over who study language, astronomy, geology, mathematics, and the other sciences, but in the words of H. L. Hastings. I ask, “Did you ever hear a man say, ‘I was an outcast, a wretched inebriate, a disgrace to my race, and a nuisance in the world, until I began to study mathematics, and learned the multiplication table, and then turned my attention to geology, got me a little hammer, and knocked off the corners of the rocks and studied the formation of the earth, and since that time I have been happy as the day is long; I feel like singing all the time; my soul is full of triumph and peace; and health and blessing have, come to my desolate home once more’?
Did you ever hear a man ascribe his redemption and salvation from intemperance and sin and vice to the multiplication table or the science of mathematics or geology?
The answer to this question must of course be in the negative. Some of the most brilliantly educated in the sciences are moral scoundrels, and many are to be found behind prison bars. But from my association with thousands of people, I know that large numbers could testify something like this: “I was a wretched sinner, the clutches of wickedness held me like a vise; I broke my poor mother’s heart; I disgraced my family; my wife was heart-stricken and forlorn; my children fled from the sound of my footsteps; I was ruined, hopeless, homeless, friendless until I heard the words of that Book.”
ITS EFFECT UPON THE COMMUNITY OF PITCAIRN
Further evidence of the divine authorship of the Sacred Scriptures is seen in its effect upon a community. I have spoken to those who in crossing the Pacific have been fortunate enough to be aboard a boat that anchored off Pitcairn Island. One such man, a commercial traveler, told me he could never forget his experience. He told of how the natives, as they came out in their boats to sell their fruit, sang with their splendid voices -thrilling hymns that he could never forget. And as the vessel weighed anchor, and left the islanders behind with their little island dot isolated in the great waters of the Pacific, the sweet words of “We Shall Meet on that Beautiful Shore” left an indelible impression, as they floated over the water to the souls aboard the vessel.
Pitcairn! First of all inhabited by the mutineers from the British ship Bounty, after they had put their captain in one of the ship’s boats, and set him adrift with a few of his loyal sailors. These mutineers, with some men and women that they picked up from the Society group, went to Pitcairn. There they murdered one another, until two of the mutineers, and some Tahitian women and children, were the only survivors. Then for the sake of the children, these two men decided to read and teach the principles of the Bible, which they had taken from the ship before they destroyed it.
What has been the influence of that one Bible? Today every Pitcairn Islander is a devoted Christian. In every home there is daily family worship. It is a veritable paradise, a community of about 300 inhabitants, living in perfect harmony and peace. Behold the contrast! What had wrought the change? The ship’s Bible. Everybody there followed the Bible rules of living.
GOOD FOR BUNDABERG
Wouldn’t it be a splendid thing for Bundaberg if every citizen here without exception, would follow the example set by Pitcairn!
Suppose that all the people of Bundaberg would follow strictly the teaching of the Bible for, say, a single ‘Year. What would be the result? There would be no lying, no stealing, no adultery, no getting drunk, no false witnessing, no hatred, no vice, no gossiping, no debauchery. Every man would be a good man, every woman a good woman. There would be no brawls, no fights, no lawsuits. Law courts would not be needed; and the prison “lock-up” would be empty. Police would not be expecting some sudden call to duty because of a night burglary or other evil-doing. Children would not be contaminated by the bad language or habits of their elders.
Soon the news would spread. It would be known in Brisbane, in Sydney, and throughout the Commonwealth. “What a wonderful time they are having up there in Bundaberg, Queensland! The people have all taken to living according to the Bible.” Newspaper reporters would be seen arriving to investigate. The telegraph wires would be kept engaged. Inquiries would come in: “Are there any houses to let in Bundaberg; any to sell; any building sites?” Men with money would come here, for they would prefer the social atmosphere for the sake of their families. New buildings would go up. I am confident if we could genuinely put this plan into operation there would be a rush to Bundaberg from all quarters. It would probably raise the price of real estate 25 per cent in six months. Taxes would be lowered, and good people from far and wide would move int6 the city, and no virtuous person would want to move out. This friends, would be the direct result of reading and obeying fully the Word of God, the Bible. No one can deny that. Pitcairn Island is already just about filled to capacity.
Now what kind of book must the Bible be to be able to do that? There is no question about it. Such a book is indeed the Book of God, inspired by the very breath of the Almighty.
SCEPTICAL SHOEMAKER
A Bible reader asked a London skeptic, a shoemaker, two questions. And at the request of the Bible reader he promised to abide by his decision. I will continue now, in the actual words of the speakers, as reported in “Will the Old Book Stand?” by Hastings, page 339: “Well, my friend,” replied the reader, “my first question is, Suppose all men were Christians, according to the account given to us in the Gospels concerning Christ, what would be the state of society?”
He remained silent for some time in deep thought, and then was constrained to say, “Well, if all men were really Christians, in practice as well as theory, of course we should be a happy brother hood indeed.”
“I promised you,” said the reader, “that I would abide by your answer; will you do the same?”, “Oh, yes,” he readily replied, “no man can deny the goodness of the system in practice. But now for the other. question; perhaps I shall get on better with that; you have a chalk mark against me this time.”
“Well, my next question is this, Suppose all men were infidels, what then would be the state of London and of the world?” He seemed still more perplexed, and remained a long time silent. At length he said, “You certainly have beaten me, for I never before saw the two effects upon society; I now see that where the Christian builds up the infidel is pulling down. I thank you; I shall think of what has passed this afternoon.”
The sequel was that the shoemaker accepted Christ, and followed Him instead of his former infidel companions. But further; when the Bible reader first called on him, he had to sit on an old dirty chair while several half-starved children dressed in rags sat upon the floor. But with the acceptance of the Christ of. Scripture he moved to a better home within which all were cheerful and happy. The father, no longer faithless, delighted in the company of his wife and children, all of whom were neatly dressed. And the chief happiness of the former infidel was to spend time with his family reading and speaking to them concerning the things which belonged to their everlasting peace.
Some Factors Quoted, Make Armageddon Inevitable
FACTORS that make the coming Armageddon inevitable were discussed in Pastor Mitchell’s lecture in the lecture marquee, on Tuesday night. He said: Referring to the human elements related to the coming Armageddon, I would say that the first factor that makes the Armageddon inevitable exists in the national conviction of the Japanese people. All over that eastern island kingdom there exists an imperialistic consciousness, a conviction that it is Japan’s destiny to control Asia as a vast empire of the http://www.ThreeAngels.com.aueast. Possessed of an optimistic superiority complex they hope for world conquest eventually. It should not be forgotten that Asia holds well over half the inhabitants of the globe.
As far back as 1916 this ambition of Japan was announced. Listen to this imperialistic announcement of Japan, written in the autumn of 1916. It was published in the Military Historian and Economist, January, 1917. “Fifty millions of our race wherewith to conquer and possess the earth! It is indeed a glorious problem. To begin with we now have China; China is our steed. Far shall we ride upon her! So becomes our 500,000,000 race 500,000,000 strong; so grow our paltry hundreds of millions of gold into billions! We are well astride of our steed, China; but the steed has long roamed wild and is run down; it needs grooming, more grain, more training. Further, our saddle and bridle are as yet mere makeshifts; would steed and trappings stand the strain of war?
“But, using China as our steed, should our first goal be the land? India? or the Pacific, the sea that must be our very- own, even as the Atlantic is now England’s? The land is tempting and easy, but withal dangerous-it must, therefore, be the sea.”
That policy of Japan published over twenty years ago is their policy still, only twenty years more fully developed. Here is their policy as published in the “Tanaka Memorial,” prepared by the Japanese Premier in 1928, for the Emperor, and first published in 1930: “For the sake of self-protection as well as the protection of others, Japan cannot surmount difficulties in Eastern Asia unless she adopts a policy of blood and iron. But in order to conquer China, we must first conquer Manchuria and Mongolia. In order to conquer the world we must first conquer China. If we succeed in conquering China, the remainder of the Asiatic countries will fear and surrender to us. Then the world will realize that Eastern Asia is ours, and will not dare to violate our rights.
“To gain actual rights in Manchuria is to use this region as a base, and under the pretence of trade and commerce, penetrate China. With China’s entire resources at our disposal we can proceed to conquer India and Central Asia, Asia Minor, and even Europe. The South Manchurian railway is not adequate for our purposes. Considering present needs and future activities, we must control railways in both North and South Manchuria in order to insure future prosperity. Our race, is embarked on a journey of world conquest.’ Notice the Similarity of this program and that published thirteen years earlier. The plan is unchanged.
Now coming to the year 1935, I cite a statement made by Dr. Rosalynde Chang, Chinese professor of English literature at the National Central University at Nanking. This professor in an article in the Manchester Guardian on “The World-wide Significance of Japan’s Expansionist Aims,” wrote: “Does the world realize that every advance Japan makes is not only an advance against China, but also against the world?” Dr. Chang continues by pointing out that as China has been left stranded by Europe and the United States,” the only practical alternative is to submit to the invaders.
Japan, because of her national conviction that she is destined to be successful, is working out her program. Step, by step. Lieutenant Commander Ishimaru’s book, “Japan Must Fight Britain,” more recently published and circulated, is evidence that they are making no secret of their program of many years standing. Even America was not forgotten in the “Tanaka Memorial.” Here is a significant statement: “For the sake of self-preservation, and we have given warnings to China and. the remainder of the world, we must fight America sometime.”
Nor has Japan forgotten Australia. Ishimaru, who is in high command of the Japanese navy, and whose book, “Japan Must Fight Britain,” I have already cited, asserts that England and Japan “must come into-collision, because England is trying to hold on to what she ‘has, while Japan must expand.” Then after stating, “Japan must find open doors in Australia,” he goes on to say: “Japan would suddenly attack the British Navy when it is scattered throughout ,the seven seas, and Australia and New Guinea will be the first aims of our Japanese conquest.”
EAST OVER-POPULATED
The second factor that makes the predicted Armageddon inevitable is the over-populated condition of the Eastern nations.
Compared with Japan’s small island empire crowded with 65,000,000 people, Australia is virtually empty. The world has 53,000,000 square miles of land surface. Only six million is non European governed, of which 4,000,000 is China and its dependencies. The world is nine tenths European politically, but only four-tenths white racially. And it must be remembered that now that the non European peoples have learned the wisdom of the West, the basic factor in human affairs is no longer politics, but race. The http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auEuropean world is Australasia, Europe, Siberian Asia, North America, and the southern half of South America-22 million square miles.
The non European world is bulk of Asia, almost all Africa, and most of Central and South America-31,000,000 square miles.
One-third of the European man’s land is held by very slender racial tenure-the only tenure that counts in the long run. The world’s population is 1,700,000,000. With 550,000,000 European, and 1,150,000,000 non European. The great bulk of the Europeans, 450,000,000 are in Europe. Thus four-fifths of the European is in one-fifth of the European man’s territorial area, while one-fifth of the Europeans (110,000,000) are scattered and must protect four-fifths of their land against a non European pressure eleven times their numerical strength.
The non European races number 500,000,000 yellow in East Asia; 450,000,000 brown, in South Asia and North Africa; 150,000,000 black in Africa, 40,000,000 red in South America. The European races in the past doubled every 80 years, but that is now slowing down rapidly with the knowledge of birth control. But the yellow and brown races double every 60 years, and the black every 40 years. The enemies to non European multiplication are famine and disease. But as the greater part of the non European world is under European dominion, the colored death-rate is decreasing, and thus the crowded non European areas become more crowded.
The non European homelands are already full to the very limit of sustenance. The surplus is doomed to emigrate or starve. Where will the European barriers keep them back from the empty lands? China increases six million each year, and Japan one million, whereas Australia in over a hundred years of European control has a total population of a mere seven millions.
Is it any wonder that, after referring to the inability of China with its teeming millions to solve Japan’s population problem, the leading article in the Ashabi, Japan’s leading newspaper, in one of its issues published this year states: “Australians have a great extensive land which they have not and are not attempting to populate. For well over a hundred years they have had an opportunity, but have failed. The time may come when we Japanese will be forced to take action, for we have a moral right to live and to possess that land of unexplored possibilities which this European race has failed to use aright.”
This second great factor then, the pressure of overcrowded non European Asia, forces us to see today, even without faith, the coming war of Armageddon as foretold in Scripture nearly 2,000 years ago. The East is being forced by the greatest of all instincts, that of self-preservation. Faced with the problem of expanding or starving, it is clear that with their present opportunity of a successful fight for life, they will not consent to famish slowly while in other parts of the world there is enough and to spare, in food and empty lands.
The third factor that makes the predicted war of Armageddon inevitable is the fact that the sinister forces of evil of the superhuman world under the control of Satan, have the work in hand. Revelation 16:14 explains: “For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”
Great statesmen have already suspected a superhuman force. When Ramsay MacDonald was Prime Minister of Britain he said: “For the present general competition in arms among the nations it is difficult to say who is responsible. It would seem as if they were, all bewitched, or laboring under some doom imposed upon them by devils.” Sir Edward Grey said at the time of the Great War: “It is really as if, in, the atmosphere of the world, there were some mischievous influence at work which troubles and excites every part of it.”
The only safety in the time of trouble that is coming upon the world is to be found in having our names registered in “the book.”
“And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book.’ Daniel 12:1.
THE rise of modern dictatorships and the fall of crowns and democracies, was the theme of a lecture commenced on Sunday night, and completed on Tuesday night, by Pastor Mitchell in the lecture tent, the meeting on Sunday night especially, being well attended. The following line of thought was taken.
Before the Great War, Europe was a continent of democracies, but now with few exceptions, of dictatorships. Today, less than 25 per cent of Europe’s population enjoys anything in the form of the personal liberty and freedom peculiar to democracy. The British Isles, Scandinavia, France, Switzerland, and a few other small powers, are the only areas where the people are still at liberty to think for, and rule themselves.
The word dictator, as applying to Hitler of Germany, Stalin of Russia, Mussolini of Italy, Mustapha Kemal of Turkey, and others in Europe has reference to a national leader whose power is so complete that all his citizens must yield implicit obedience to his national program, regardless of religious or political belief, and without the privilege of expressing anything contrary to the iron rule of the dictator, unless it be at the risk of banishment, imprisonment, or death. Thus the citizen is deprived of his most priceless possessions, liberty of conscience and the privilege of thinking for himself.
Countries controlled by the iron hand of the dictator are Russia, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Poland, Rumania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Latvia, Portugal, Lithuania, East Prussia, Finland. The degree to which the liberties of the citizens are controlled by the dictators of these countries, varies slightly.
BRITISH LIBERTY
The British liberty possessed by all its citizens is a blood-bought heritage for which we should be exceedingly thankful. Then, too, in that other great democracy, the United States, the constitution guarantees the inalienable right to “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness,” every man being permitted to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. Just recently our Premier, speaking in this city, made reference to the priceless possession of liberty of conscience, stating that his Government “never at any time has endeavored to interfere with liberty of conscience,” and that “liberty of conscience is one of the essential bases of all liberty. No man can claim to be free unless he is prepared to extend that freedom to all others.” This is predominantly the view of all British Governments. But how sad the contrast in the great countries ruled by the unyielding will of the dictators!
TOTALITARIAN ENSLAVEMENT
Under the Communistic regime, for instance, all forms of religion are attacked. It has been announced by the Central Council of the Soviet Anti-God Society that it is their object “to reduce all churches throughout the world into a single mighty sea of flame.”
Instructions were issued to the Communists in Spain to destroy all churches and monasteries throughout Spain. And the effort was not to be confined to Spain alone. A little over a year ago, the Pope announced that the Bolsheviks in Spain had murdered eleven bishops and 16,750 priests.
An effort was made under Nazism to weld all the churches into one church controlled by a leader appointed by the State. But the people of Germany, led by the pastors, heroically opposed that move. Under Fascism religion is regulated also by the whims of the dictator. None of these forms of totalitarian leadership, Communism, Fascism, or Nazism, leaves room for the exercise of individual opinion either in politics or religion.
Frieda Wunderlick, formerly a judge in a Federal Supreme Court in Germany, after her voluntary exile wrote on the plan of the rule of the dictator to rob even the children of their right to be trained to think by the mothers that gave them birth. She wrote: “The glorification of woman as mother of the race does not carry with it any increase of responsibility for the education of the youth. Since the young must be steeped in the doctrine of heroic sacrifice. This phase of their education is handled by party organizations. From the age often, the child’s free time is occupied by the ‘Hitler Youth.’ There is no place in this educational scheme for the mother; the party organizations ignore the religious and social conventions of the family, and have no patience with parents’ suggestions.”
“The family,” she writes, “is no longer the social unit it was one hundred y-ears ago.” Referring to-the woman’s part, she says: “She retains the kitchen and the biological part of motherhood; but the family in its spiritual functions is displaced by the political organization.” This idea that children are the property of the State, mentally and morally, to be trained as the State shall dictate, strikes at the very roots of human freedom.
Under Fascism, too, the child of six comes under the control of the State. From the age of six to eighteen, boys are trained by the Opera Balilla. Mr. Ernest Poole, writing in Harper’s for October, 1937, says: “On an April afternoon in Rome I was watching several hundred little Italian boys drill with guns-not toy guns, but repeating rifles of small size made especially for them. ‘Fix bayonets!’ ‘There came the rattle http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auof steel. I watched those rows of motionless eyes and wondered what they thought of it all.” He tells of the thoroughness of this training, and how, through it all the Fascist ideals are woven, and devotion to the Duce and to the Italian, State are made a religion.
Though the forms of dictatorship differ in different countries, the dictators are alike in that they rule by arbitrary or extra-legal power and that they use brute force, violence, and terrorism as instruments of government, the minorities of course suffering the most.
In the year 1932, when the violence of dictators had not spread so far a field as today, a book was published in Australia by Mr. A. W. Anderson after paying a visit to Europe. The book, a volume of 480 pages, is entitled, “Through Turmoil to Peace.” The following is a part of the chapter, “Perilous Times and Their Meaning”: “Is there not an almost universal tendency to ignore in matters of conscience the rights of minorities, and to insist that the rights of majorities shall prevail, without regard whatsoever to minority or individual rights?
“When this disposition is fully developed, religious freedom-the liberty to worship or not to worship, and the freedom to exercise an individual choice of those methods of worship which appeal to our individual intelligence-will exist no longer. When that time arrives, we shall have stepped back again into the Dark Ages when one man, Pontifex Maximus, claimed the sole right to prescribe how and when God shall be worshipped.
“The principles underlying such a dictatorship are the same whether they manifest themselves under the garb of Roman paganism, Roman Catholicism, apostate Protestantism, Socialism, Communism, Bolshevism, or Fascism. And being antagonistic to true Christian freedom, which permits every man to choose for himself what, when, and how he shall worship, or whether he will worship at all, it should be resisted by all who value their liberty.
“Force and violence are being resorted to as never before, and intimidation is utilized on every possible occasion by those who are seeking to overthrow both church and State.”
Then this author goes on to say: “Although recognizing the evil forces which are actualizing these latter-day revolutionary movements, many through fear, hesitate to utter any protest”; and then quoting the words of another, he continues: “But a little knowledge of the history of world revolution would dispel the illusions of those we hope to save their heads by cowardly compromise; it would teach them that in times of revolution no one’s life is safe. There is nothing then, to be gained by cowardice, and there is much to he lost.”
SPIRIT OF THE DICTATOR
The spirit of the dictator, and the value he places on the lives even of his most trusted guards, is forcefully illustrated by John Whittaker, in his recent book, “Fear Came Upon Europe.” He tells the story, that when Laval as the French Prime Minister was visiting Mussolini some time ago, Mussolini was anxious to impress the French Prime Minister with the devotion of his subjects. Laval was skeptical.
“Very well, I will show you then,” said Mussolini, sounding the buzzer for an attendant. “Do you love your Duce better than your life?” demanded Mussolini. “Si, Duce,” said the attendant. “Then jump from the window,” commanded Mussolini. To the amazement of Laval, the guard without a moment’s hesitation threw himself from the balcony to the street below.
“That’s very impressive, but would others do as much for your Excellency?” asked Laval. Mussolini called two guards and then three. In each case they carried out the Duce’s orders. “Yes, but call one more and let me question him,” suggested Laval. “Do you love your Duce?” Laval asked the unhappy guard. “Si, Excellencia,” he said. “You love him better than life itself? You would jump from this window if he ordered you?” “Si Excellencia.” “Your Duce means more to you than life itself?” “Yes,” said the guard, “Ma quo, Excellencia, what sort of life is this under Fascism anyway?”
UNSEEN LEADER CONTROLLING
Now the real power, the unseen leader, mobilizing and controlling vast millions of men, through his key men, the dictators, is his Satanic Majesty, the arch-rebel of the universe, the devil, and his associate angels. Revelation 16:14 explains: “For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” And Revelation 12:12, explaining the intensity of the final stages of the controversy between Christ and Satan, says: “Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knows that http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auhe hath but a short time.” And verse 17 speaks, of the dragon as making war with the remnant church, “which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.’
Satan, described as “the prince of the power of the air” in Ephesians 2:2, is spoken of as “the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.” However, those who under the control of Satan are planning to destroy the nations of the earth are soon, to be destroyed. Note this prophetic statement from Revelation 11:18 “And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear - Thy name, small and great; and should destroy them which destroy the earth.”
Referring to the outcome of the final struggle between the forces of good and evil, the Psalmist wrote: “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Psalm 2:1-9.
DARK OCCULT FORCES
Mrs. Nester Webster recently published a book entitled, “The World Revolution,” writing with such clear insight into the meaning of the present development of world unrest, that Lord Sydenham of the House of Lords referred to it as the “most important contribution to history ever made by a woman.” In one of her concluding paragraphs this writer says: “It is therefore no fantastic theory but the literal truth to say that the present world crisis is a conflict between the powers of good and evil. Christianity is a beleaguered citadel surrounded by the dark forces which have mustered for the supreme onslaught.” - Page 325.
And in the preface of the same book, she writes concerning the revolutionary ideas of Socialism and Anarchism as an “occult force, terrible, unchanging, relentless, and wholly destructive, which constitutes the greatest menace that has ever confronted the human race.” This description of the forces at work today is correct and exactly in harmony with sacred Scripture. A superhuman power is stirring the leaders of nations and the forces of our mundane sphere, and maneuvering not only for the destruction of liberty, but for the annihilation of mankind.
Grace Is God’s Goodness in Forgiveness of Sin
SPEAKING on the relationship existing between law and grace, in the missionary marquee, on Sunday night, Pastor Mitchell said: “All who are ever saved eternally will be saved by grace.”
Sin is mentioned in the first book of the Bible, and the same book speaks of grace. Some are of the opinion that the Jews, and all men saved before the death of Christ, were saved by keeping the law, and that only those saved in the Christian dispensation are saved by grace. That is not so. Apart from the grace of God, neither Jews nor Gentiles could be saved. The Bible teaches that all men whether Jews or Gentiles who are saved eternally will enter heaven by the door, of grace. The redeemed of God have been “under grace” from the very beginning of sin. The grace of God has been operating side by side with the law of God unceasingly from the very moment that sin crept into our earth. It is impossible for sin, or the grace of God, to exist apart from the law of God.
SIN DEFINED BY LAW OF GOD
An enthusiastic student of the Bible recently expressed his belief that the Ten Commandments had been abolished at the cross. I had met many who like this young man had been under this grave misapprehension. So to help this man I asked: “How do you know sin?” Rather hesitatingly and doubtingly he replied, “Oh my conscience.” I knew I must strike hard to disillusion him. So I then said: “Paul was a better man than you, and he did not know sin but by the law. Now, how do you know sin?” The remark greatly impressed him. He gazed at me in wonderment which was his only reply. He no longer referred to conscience as a safe sin detector after, listening to Paul’s inspired words of Romans 7:7, “I had not known sin, but by the law.” Paul had accepted Christianity, he was living in the Christian dispensation, but he http://www.ThreeAngels.com.aurecognized the existence and necessity of the Ten Commandment law of God. The law of God then, according to Scripture, is the only standard by which we can scripturally define sin.
Now in order to understand correctly the relationship between law and grace, and to see their in-Reparable connection, we must get the scriptural definitions of these terms. Firstly, notice the Bible definition of sin. 1 John 3:4 clearly states: “Sin is the transgression of the law.” It is evident, then, that wherever there is sin there exists, also, the law. Now, secondly, we think of those familiar words of Romans 5:20: “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Thus grace is found side by side with sin. Sin proves the existence of the law, for “sin is the transgression of the law.” And grace proves the existence of the law, for grace is the forgiveness of sin.
THE LAW AND SIN
Now let us analyze the relationship between the law of God, sin, grace, the gospel, and ministers, and churches. Scripture says: “Sin is the transgression of the law.” Now suppose the law were abolished, as many imagine, what would be the result? Why, if the law no longer existed there would be no sin. Romans 4:15 states a simple truth: “Where there is no law there is no transgression.” You cannot transgress a law that has been abolished and is thus non-existent. Hence if the law of God were abolished there would be no sin, and thus no need of grace from God to forgive sin, for grace is the goodness of God that forgives sin. It is the unmerited favor of God toward the sinner, made possible by virtue of the atoning blood of Christ.
Then further, if there is no law, and consequently no violation of the law, or sin, then there would be no need of grace, the forgiveness of sin; then there would be no need of the gospel to tell about the grace of God; and no need of ministers to preach the gospel of the grace of God, and, finally, no need of churches in which to preach the gospel. So here is briefly the logic of the position. If the law exists still, we have this line: Law, sin, grace, gospel, ministers, churches. But if the law is abolished, and no longer exists it must read like this: No law, no sin, no need of grace, no need of the gospel, no need of ministers to preach the gospel, no need of churches in which to preach the gospel of the grace of God. Which is it, Christian friends, the law, or no law?
PAUL’S INSPIRING FAITH
It is absolute foolishness to say, as many do that they are under grace and are free from any allegiance to the law of God.
Paul believed in being saved by grace accepted through faith, but he never said anything about a complete severance from the law of God. Listen to his words of Romans 3:31: “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yes, we establish the law.”
All men, whether in harmony with the law, and thus under grace, or violating the law, and under disgrace, are under the jurisdiction of God’s law. This is definitely taught in Romans 3:19. Those, however, who are by God’s grace obeying the law, and are thus in harmony with it, are not under its condemnation as are those who are violating it. Those who obey, and are in harmony with the law, are “under grace.” Those who ignore or break the law of God, as sinners, are under the condemnation of the law, as well as subject to its jurisdiction.
I have met those who think that by ignoring the law of God, and violating it where it pleases them, they show that they are not under the law, but under grace. What a terrible delusion! Those who ignore and violate the law of God are the very ones who are not “under grace” but under the condemnation of the law. The only persons who are “under grace” are those who have been forgiven of their sins, and by the power and grace of God are in harmony with the law of God.
SEEKING GOD’S GRACE
Those who ignore and break the law of God are sinners. They are under disgrace, not grace. They must repent, confess, and forsake their sin in thus violating God’s law, before they are forgiven and come into that condition spoken of as “under grace.” Regardless of what one may claim, one cannot be under grace while violating any of. God’s Ten Commandments. The grace of God saves “from sin.” Matthew 1:21. It does not save us “in” our sins. The grace of God washes white, it does not “white-wash” and leave the sins underneath.
When a man is saved “from sin” he thus comes into harmony with the law of God, and thus is under grace. But being under grace does not give him a license to break the law again. No! Immediately he http://www.ThreeAngels.com.aucommences breaking the commandments again, he falls from grace and is under the condemnation of the law.
I have conversed with men who have been of the opinion that the law of God was abolished, but I have not yet met the man to tell me that there is no longer any sin. No, all admit that sin abounds. And so, logically, all must admit that the law of God, or Ten Commandments, still exists, for “sin is the transgression of the law.” That is why we need the saving grace of God. For the same reason, too, we need the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God, with all the heavenly power available, by Spirit-filled preachers in every church under the sun.
CHRIST’S MISSION TO ABOLISH SIN, NOT THE LAW
Christ came to abolish not the law of Ten Commandments or any section of it, but to abolish sin, which Scripture defines as the transgression of the law.
Grace is defined to be the unmerited favor of God, exhibited in the forgiveness of sin. And according to 1 John 3:4, “Sin is the transgression of the law.” If the law were abolished the work of grace would automatically cease. If the law were abolished at-the cross as is supposed by some, then there would be no transgression of the law, hence no sin, consequently no need of grace or the forgiveness of sin. The law is not against grace, neither is grace against the law. Each serves in its own sphere. The purpose of the law is to define sin, and it is needed by the saint as well as the sinner. The law tells the transgressor that he is a sinner, but it cannot save him. The end of the law, is, therefore, to point men to Christ. One does not dispense with the mirror because it reveals one’s face to be unclean, but uses the remedy, soap and water. Even after soap and water have cleansed once, the mirror is still needed.
“NO TRANSGRESSION”
Suppose a person were arrested for attending a gospel meeting, and brought before a judge. The judge would ask the officer on what charge the prisoner was arrested, and the officer would answer, “for attending a religious meeting.” Supposing the judge says, “There is no law against a person’s attending a religious service; and since there is no law against which this man has offended, I shall grant him a pardon and set him free.” The accused would surely reply, “I need no pardon, for I have violated no law.” Grace, or pardon, cannot be extended to anyone if there is no law that he has broken, “for where no, law is, there is no transgression.” Romans 4:15.
Grace, though it forgives, grants no license to the sinner to continue in sin. If a man were found guilty of a great crime, and fined the maximum sum of money, or as an alternative sentenced to a long term of imprisonment, he would certainly be under the law.
But suppose a friend, knowing that the prisoner was too poor to pay the fine, did so for him. He would no longer be under the condemnation of the law. But would he still be under the jurisdiction of the law? Yes, by all means. He has no more liberty to go and commit that crime again than he had before he was liberated. He is not only still under the jurisdiction of the law, but being liberated he is under a debt of gratitude to live an exemplary life in the future. Likewise the grace of Christ should lead one not to ignore the law of God, but to come into closer harmony with its divine precepts and righteous standards.
The strong language of Scripture emphasized the truth in the words of Galatians 2:17: “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.” Similarly in Romans 6:1, 2: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” And again Paul answers, “God forbid.”
THE death of Christ on the cross of Calvary is the central theme of Christianity, said Pastor Mitchell in his mission lecture on Sunday night. In the eternal plan of God, death is the result of sin. Romans 6:23 says: “The wages of sin is death.” And 1 John 3:4 says “Sin is the transgression of the law.” But Christ never transgressed the law. John 15:10 records Christ as saying, “I have kept My Father’s commandments.” Christ spoke the words of John 8:46, “Which of you convinces Me of sin?” Why then did Christ, as the sinless Son of God, submit to the wages of sin, and die the cruel death of the cross? As the http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auperfect One, death had no claims on Him, and Matthew 26:53 teaches that had Christ requested it, more than twelve legions of angels would have surrounded and protected Him from the murderous throng that had captured Him for Calvary’s cross. Why, then, did He voluntarily submit to the course that led to Calvary’s cross and Joseph’s new tomb?
Men and women, old and young, let me tell you right here, that the death of Christ has a meaning so deep that we shall never be able to fathom it. And the actual death, though ignominious and cruel, was not the hardest for Christ to bear. It was the separation from. His Father as the Sin-bearer that broke the Savior’s heart. Listen to the words echoing from the cross on Calvary’s hill: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” As the Sin-bearer, He addresses His Father. Not as the Son of God, but as the condemned sinner, He uses the words “My God” instead of “Father.” Matthew 27:46. Then according to verse 50 “Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.” Though the Father suffered with the Son, and all heaven was stirred with grief, yet in Order to become the Sin-bearer, Christ died as a sinner separated from a holy, God.
ATONEMENT FOR SIN
Christ had never sinned, He never transgressed one of the sacred Ten Commandments. But in voluntarily accepting death He did so on behalf of mankind, you and me, who have sinned, who have broken the law, the penalty of which is death. Christ’s death was a vicarious death. He offered His own sinless life to pay the penalty of the broken law, on behalf of sinners. He as the sinner’s substitute thus made an atonement for sin. His was a substitutionary death to meet the just demands of the broken law on behalf of sinners.
The cross thus becomes irrefutable proof of two great truths: the eternal, unchangeable nature of the law of God, and the eternal, unfathomable depths of the love of God. If the law of God could have been set aside, Christ need never have died to pay its penalty. The death of Christ is the strongest argument in the world that the law of God could never be altered or abolished. If the law could have been set aside, then sin, the transgression of the law, could have been set aside, and death, “the Wages of sin,” could have been avoided.
Christ’s vicarious death to meet the penalty of the broken law, eternally proves that in God’s plan His moral law is eternal, unchangeable, immutable, everlasting, and that the justice of God requires that the penalty of the broken law be paid. Viewing the cross we behold justice and mercy in the one glance. It tells us that while we cannot be saved by ‘morality without Christianity, no more can we be saved by Christianity without morality. The cross portrays law and grace dwelling together.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE LAW
Romans 3:31 teaches that our faith in the cross means not the abolition of the law, but the establishment of it. The cross means not the abolition of the law, but the possibility of forgiveness for the transgression of the law. Christ died not to abolish the law but sin, the transgression of the law. That abominable thing which the Lord hates is not the holy law of God, but sin, the transgression of that law. He became the sinner’s substitute, that through His death He might forgive sin, and thus bring the sinner into harmony with the perfection of the law. In order to maintain that harmony with the law, He promises to take up His abode with the obedient, thus bringing the law, and the power to obey it, right into the life of those who allow Him to do so. Listen to the promises of John 14:21, 23: “He that hath My commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves Me: and he that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I Will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
By virtue of the cross, the gospel brings salvation within the reach of every man. But we are not saved if we continue to ignore or willfully violate the law. Far from it. The standard of piety is neither changed nor lowered by the cross. But means are provided to reach and adequately help us in our fallen state.
If men and women are satisfied with a righteousness that ignores the law of God, it is righteous only according to human standards and man-made ideals, but will not meet God’s requirements in the judgment. The gospel does not substitute something else in the place of that perfection which the law demands, but through Christ it provides the requisite means for securing that very perfection in us.
Pardon for past sins is obtainable by virtue of the cross. But we must not presume to continue in sin, or transgression of the law. To prepare for eternity it is imperative that we accept the provision made http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auwhich takes away our carnal minds and gives heavenly power to obey the commandments. Surely this was very expensive to the Law-giver that His only Son should die. The law which demands such a sacrifice must be a sacred law.
When the gospel has wrought its work perfectly in our hearts, we are in exact conformity to the law of God.
“The law reveals and makes us know what duties to our God we owe; But this the gospel must reveal Where lies our strength to do His will.”
If we pass the test of the day of judgment, the righteousness of the law of God, by virtue of the adequate provision made by Christ, must be fulfilled in us.
No one can fight against, or trample upon, the law of God without grieving Christ, for the law of God is in the innermost sanctuary of His heart. If He is allowed to do so He will write the law on your heart. Hebrews 10:16 puts it clearly: “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, said the Lord. I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.”
Then you with Christ will in the words of Psalm 40:8 be able to say truthfully: “I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yes, Thy law is within My heart.”
LAW NEVER BE PUT ASIDE
Christ did not love suffering. Listen to the thrice-repeated prayer of Gethsemane, as recorded in Matthew 26: “O My Father, if it he possible, let this cup pass from Me.” But the cross demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt that the law could never be set aside, else such a priceless gift never would have been given to free men from death, the penalty of the broken law. The cross demonstrates Heaven’s great love for sinners, and proves that the law was so adamantine that nothing could change it.
Harmony Displacing Discord
How is it possible to live the Christian life of obedience to God’s commandments?
Give a little boy of two years an axe, and ask him to cut down an Australian gum tree. Make the axe perfect, give it the keenest kind of edge; then place it in the tender hands of the infant child. What happens? The tree continues to hold its head aloft, upright in its place. Why? Because the axe is no good? No; but because the flesh is weak. Put the same axe into the hands of a stalwart wood-chopper and the task is accomplished with ease and pleasure. The axe is just what is needed, but strong hands are needed to wield it. If the hands are weak, do not condemn the axe.
LAW PERFECT-FLESH WEAK
So it is with men and women. The law given by God to assist in preparing a character for heaven is perfect. It is just what is needed to guide and assist mankind to prepare a perfect character; but the flesh is weak. “The perfect law of liberty” is the description of James 1:25. Heaven and earth agree that the law is perfect. Heaven and earth also agree that “the flesh is weak.” How then can harmony displace the discord caused by the clash between the perfect moral law of God and the weakness of human nature?
This discord is aptly described by Paul, in Romans 7:14-24, where he states, “The law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.”
The weakness of the carnal, unconverted nature is further described by Paul. And the recognition of failure is depicted in the cry for assistance: “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” And in verse 25 Paul introduces the solution to the problem, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Then in chapter 8 he continues to show how the “righteousness of the law” can be fulfilled in us.
ILLUSTRATING SCRIPTURAL TRUTH
Now I will give an illustration that will help you to grasp a wonderful Scriptural truth. Suppose that a farmer friend of mine after one of my mission services steps up to me and says, “Preacher, would you like to earn a little money during your vacation?”
I answer in the affirmative, assuring him that some excellent missionary projects can thus be assisted. Then he explains: “I want you to build a barn on my farm. I know exactly what is required, and here is a list often specifications.”
I read them over with him. The first describes the length of the barn. The second its height and width, and the third the location of the mangers. The fourth describes the roof and the fifth tells the kind and size of windows. The sixth specifies the place for doors, the seventh the kind of foundation, and the eighth the hayloft. The ninth describes the kind of timbers for the various parts of the building, and the tenth the nails and hardware. Then the farmer says, “I will furnish all the materials, you will only need to build the barn according to the ten specifications. When it is thus built I will pay you £300.” Because of the generosity of my farmer friend, I am impressed that I must complete the task in an excellent manner. With this feeling in mind I set to work.
The time comes when I report that the barn is built. “Is it built in perfect accord with the ten specifications?” the farmer asks.
I recollect that the specifications greatly troubled me, but I ask him to come and look- it over. But to my great dismay, after inspecting it and comparing it with the specifications, I listen to the farmer friend sadly saying, “Why, Mr. Preacher, there is not a single specification that you have carried out. The length, width, and height are all wrong, and dangerously out of proportion. No animal could under the building, for the doors are where the windows should be high off the ground. The mangers are so high that even a giraffe could not feed from them. You have used spikes instead of nails and split the weather-boards. And the foundation is terribly insecure. The first brisk breeze may cause the whole- barn to collapse.”
I feel terribly embarrassed, but can only see one way out of the terrible dilemma. I point out that all my trouble, my perplexity, and grief were caused by the specifications. It was so terribly hard to comply with them. I suggest that the farmer burn them. If he will only destroy the specifications, then it will be all right. But the farmer says, “What are you trying to tell me? Do you think that this barn, all out of proportion, lopsided, and a positive danger to anyone that comes near it, will be all right just by my destroying the specifications? No, sir! The specifications are exactly what are necessary.
It’s the barn that’s wrong, not the specifications.”
THE SOLUTION
You may smile at the idea of destroying the specifications of the barn; but is not the argument about abolishing the law of God just as unsound and ridiculous? The law is perfect. The solution required must tell how to bring our lives into harmony with its specifications.
Now come back to our illustration. While I stand there, confronted by my miserable failure and inability to accomplish the task, and reluctantly compelled to admit that my suggestion of destroying the specifications would not make the barn right, my farmer friend offers a true solution to the problem.
He states that he is not only a farmer, but a master builder himself. He asks me if I will undertake to build again, side by side with him, and under his constant direction. He promises to do practically all the work himself, but will give me the credit for it, and then pay me the £300 cash. All he wants is my willingness and cooperation. Ah! Here is a real solution to all my great difficulties and perplexing problems. I proceed now to work side by side with the master builder. I see the building grow day by day, exactly according to the specifications. Success and perfection are now assured. The specifications are treasured as a real necessity, and genuine help in producing the required building. They no longer trouble me, for I am working now with the master builder.
Now, friends, this illustrates exactly the method employed by the Master Builder of characters for the kingdom. Exodus 19:4-8 describes the terms of the old covenant made by the children of Israel. They undertook to obey in their own strength, saying, “All that the Lord hath said, we will do.” But they failed miserably, for thirty days afterward they were dancing around and worshipping the golden calf. There was nothing wrong with the law of God that they undertook to obey, but Hebrews 8:8 explains that the fault was with the people.
Then continuing the same chapter, verse 10 describes what the Lord now undertakes under the new covenant: “I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people.” Hebrews 10:16 and Jeremiah 31:33 emphasize the same plan. Here God undertakes the responsibility of writing the law of God in the heart. All He wants is our willingness, and He will work out the specifications of the Ten Commandments in our lives. Revelation 14:12 describes http://www.ThreeAngels.com.authose who keep the commandments of God as also having the faith of Jesus. The faith of Jesus is His, it is part of Him. To have His faith we must have Him dwelling in the life.
Paul explains this in Galatians 2:20. God’s plan then is certainly the real solution. Are you building with the Master Builder? If so you will find no trouble in obeying the specifications.
The Two Blood-Sealed Covenants
IS it possible that the King of the universe would condescend to enter into covenant relations with man-that He who made all would make agreements with that which He made, and so in a sense with His creatures place them on equality with Himself? It is not only possible it has. God the Creator has indeed covenanted
Here are a few introductory facts:-
THE OLD COVENANT
Now before we find out what the old covenant is, it will help us to find out-what it is not. It is not the Ten Commandments, as is supposed by some. Here are the reasons why it could not possibly be:
These facts for ever establish the truth that the Ten Commandments, or the law of God, was not the old covenant. God does refer to His commandments as His covenant, but it was not the old or the new covenant, and is never referred to in Scripture as such.
God’s Ten Commandments, the basis of His government, which He calls His covenant, are separate and distinct, and outside of both the old and the new covenant.
To illustrate: Good citizens of our Commonwealth are in covenant relationship with the Government. The Government says, “If you will obey the laws of this Commonwealth, your life, liberty, and property will be protected.” That is the mutual agreement, or covenant, virtually existing between the citizen and the Government. But when we speak of the Government alone, its covenant would be its laws which it commands its citizens to perform. Hosea 6:7 with its marginal reference, teaches that Adam transgressed God’s covenant. That, of course, was not the old covenant, made at Sinai, but God’s covenant commanded, His eternal law.
Now we turn to Exodus 19:1-9, and we find the old covenant being made at Horeb, or Sinai. The Lord is entering into a covenant with Israel. “Now therefore, if you will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine: and you shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak unto the children of Israel.” Verses 5, 6. The next scene is Moses placing the matter before the people for their consideration. Then they accept the conditions of the covenant by responding, “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.” Verse 8.
Coming on, up to the twenty-fourth chapter we find that three times the people repeat the promise, their part of the agreement, “all that the Lord hath said, we will do.” Then in Exodus 24:8 we find Moses sealing the covenant by sprinkling blood on the people, saying, “Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.”
The law of God written on tables was not sprinkled with blood. In fact, it had not yet been written, for after the old covenant was sealed, Exodus 24:12 records God’s invitation to Moses to come up into the mount to receive the tables of stone with the Ten Commandments written thereon. The last verse of the chapter states that Moses was there forty days.
But what of the covenant promise made by the Israelites? Ah! During those forty days immediately after their promise they made the golden calf, and on his return Moses found them worshipping it. Their covenant was broken-a fitting demonstration of the weakness of man, and his inability to keep God’s law in his own strength. This is brought to view in Exodus 31.
But what a blessing that God had in mind a “better covenant,” established upon “better promises”! Hebrews 8:6. It is like the experience of a boy who tackles a given task, but does it all wrong. His father, touched with love for the boy, invites him to do the work again. The ‘boy is willing, but hardly believes that success is possible. But this time the father goes along with him, and so completely helps him that the father more than the boy is responsible for the boy’s complete success.
THE NEW COVENANT
Now this brings us to the new covenant. We find it outlined in Jeremiah 31:31-33. “Behold, the days come, said the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.. . . I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God and they shall be My people. “ Hebrews 8:10 and 10:16 teach the same blessed thought: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, said the Lord; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people.”
This better covenant, after being taught for three and a half years by the Savior Himself, was sealed with His blood. The old covenant was sealed with the blood of animals, the new, with the blood of Christ.
Do you notice that the law of God is still the basis of the new covenant? But it is written in a more vital place than on the tables of stone. Christ by His Spirit writes the law on the hearts of those who are willing to let Him. By the power of God He gives us the new heart. And 2 Peter 1:4 speaks of our reception of the divine nature, that gives victory instead of defeat!
So every new-covenant Christian has God’s holy law written in his heart. Would you like to see a demonstration of the new covenant?
Listen to the Apostle Paul’s testimony “Do we then make, void the law through faith? God forbid; yes, we establish the law.” Romans 3:31.
And when the new-covenant work has been accomplished, in our hearts, we shall say with Christ: “I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yes, Thy law is within My heart.” Psalm 40:9; Hebrews 10:7.
Thus the great God covenants with you and me, if we will allow Him, to write His holy law in our hearts, that the divine standard of His eternal kingdom may be the actuating principle of our lives.
True Sons of Abraham
IN an address in the lecture tent on Tuesday night, Pastor Mitchell dealt with the distinction between the literal blood descendants of ancient Israel and those who are Israelites by virtue of a Christian character. The following line of thought was pursued:-
Persisting as a distinct people, and retaining their distinct racial characteristics though scattered throughout the nations of the earth, the Jewish people have become the objects of considerable study and discussion throughout the world. Many despise the Jews, others persecute, and still others believe that http://www.ThreeAngels.com.aublessings are still to come to the world through them. Some, doubtless because of this latter view, have gone so far as to assume that the British race is Jewish in its origin.
When the British statesman Disraeli was sneered at by Daniel O’Connell for being a Jew, he replied: “The gentleman’s scorn does not trouble me, when I remember that half the Christian world worships a Jew, and the other half a Jewess.” When Frederick the Great of Prussia asked his chaplain to explain in a word why he believed the Bible to be the Word of God, the chaplain replied, “The Jew.”
THE TERM ISRAEL
The term Israel is a character name, first given to Jacob, the father of the Jews. Jacob’s father was Isaac, and his grandfather Abraham.
Thus the Jews are the descendants of Abraham. The name Israel was conferred upon Jacob because of his change of character, a change from, the natural to the spiritual, from Jacob the deceiver to Israel “a prince of God.”
Genesis 32:28 explains: “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince has you power with God and with men, and has prevailed.” Bound up in the meaning of the term Israel is the thought of having power to prevail with God and man. “To prevail, have power as a prince,” is the thought expressed by Strong, the author of the world’s most complete concordance of the Hebrew, Greek, and English of the Bible. A true Israelite, then, must possess something more than the flesh and blood of. Abraham or Jacob; he must have the Christian characteristics of Israel. He must be in touch with heaven in such a way that he has power to prevail with God in prayer.
In the first book of Samuel, chapters 7 and 8, there is recorded a crisis that came upon the Israelites at a time when they were not in a position to prevail with God, because of rejecting God’s system of government and pleading for a government similar to that of their pagan neighbors. But knowing the peril approaching in the form of the armed hosts of the Philistines, they came to Samuel their prophet and leader. They said to him, “Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that He will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.” 1 Samuel 7:8. Samuel, loyal and true to God, had-power to prevail in prayer. God heard, and saved them from the power of their enemies. Thus at that time there was but one out of all the hosts of Israel who was a true Israelite.
JEW OF THE HEART
The same plain truth is taught in the New Testament. “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” Romans 2:28, 29.
The Gospel of John records a conversation between Christ and the literal descendants of Abraham. Christ said: “I know that you are Abraham’s seed; but you seek to kill Me, because My word bath no place in you.” John 8:37. The fact that they were the literal seed of Abraham, of itself, was no advantage for them in the sight of God. In the most important aspect, that of character, they failed, and were placed in a different class by Christ Himself. “Jesus said unto them, If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.”
In the spiritual sense, the most important with God, they were not counted as sons of Abraham. They were not Israelites in the true sense of the word. Christ told them plainly, “Ye are of your father the devil.” John 8:44.
The words of Matthew 3:9 emphasize the same truth: “And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” It is not the literal blood descent that counts, but the character of Abraham. Galatians 3:29 explains: “And if you be Christ’s, then are you Abraham’s seed, and heirs according, to the promise.”
By becoming Christ’s, one does not become a partaker of the literal flesh and blood of Abraham, but one’s character is changed, so that through becoming a member of Christ’s family, one is adopted into the family of “Abraham and his seed,” by virtue of a character change. If one is a true Christian, he is at the same Israelite, and, heir to the promise made to Abraham and his seed. Not national distinction, but character is the key to the, correct understanding of this subject.
It is interesting to note, too, that it is worth something to be a true Israelite. It is worth something to be included in the blessings and promises made to “Abraham and his seed.” It is a fact that while many criticize anything Jewish, yet all the promises have been made to the father of the Jews. And it was none other than Christ Himself who declared “that “salvation is of the Jews.” John 4:22. Paul teaches this truth http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auplainly in Romans 9:4: “Who are Israelites, to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises.” God made no covenant with the Gentiles, either the old or the new. Neither were the promises made to the Gentiles. Genesis 13:14, 15, Romans 4:13, and Hebrews 11:10-16 show clearly that the promises of heir ship to the world in its recreated condition, and of immortal life were made to “Abraham and his seed.” You ask then wherein lies our hope of eternal life.
The fact is that we, through Christ, must be grafted as true Israelites, into the tree of promises made to Abraham and his seed. This is clearly taught by Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. Referring to the failure of the Jewish people because of their unbelief, Paul wrote:
“You wilt say then The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee.” Romans 11:19-21.
Galatians 3:16 clearly shows that Christ was the literal seed of Abraham, and thus by accepting Christ fully we inherit the promises made to Abraham. While special promises were made to the Israelites with them as with those who are grafted into the promises through Christ, character is the one essential of acceptance.
NATURAL ISRAEL’S FAILURE
The natural branches failed to produce the fruits of worldwide witnessing and obedience. Isaiah 5:3-5 reveals the fact that after all the Providential assistance, “wild grapes” only were the fruitage.
And then He stated plainly, “Therefore Christ, in a masterly way, pictured the Jewish failure, even to the rejection of the Son of God. And then He said plainly “I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given-to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” Matthew 21:43.
Wonderful promises, even concerning the present world, were made to the Jews on condition of their loyalty to God. Jeremiah records one such promise: “And it shall come to pass, if you diligently hearken unto Me, said the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the, Sabbath day, to do no work therein; then. . . this city shall remain for ever.” Jeremiah 17:24, 25. But the same chapter predicted that unfaithfulness would bring destruction to the same city. They were unfaithful, and their city was destroyed in the year AD 70. Christ foretold that same calamity in the words of Matthew 23:37, 38: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that killed the prophets, and stoned them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”
Ancient Israel failed to evangelize the world. They were exclusive. Isaiah 11:11, 12 foretold the Lord’s putting His hand the second time to gather a people, not this time from Egypt only, but from the world. Jeremiah 16:14-19 explains that the gathering will be from “all lands,” and “the Gentiles” will see the fullness of truth so plainly that they will exclaim, “Surely our fathers have inherited lies.”
TRUE SPIRITUAL ISRAEL
Revelation 14:6-12 describes the complete “everlasting gospel” going to, every, nation, kindred, tongue, and people, with the result that a people are gathered out, who are found ready and waiting for the return of Christ, described in the same chapter. They are described in Revelation 14:12: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Thus where ancient Israel failed in their obedience to the commandments of God, the true Israel of Christ, through Christ, will be found faithful and loyal. 1 Peter 2:8-10 describes this true Israel of God. They are “called out of darkness into His marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God.” Titus 2: 13, 14, speaking of the same class, speaks of a “peculiar people; zealous of good works.” Ephesians 2:11-19 teaches that as Gentiles we are “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.” But by accepting Christ we “are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.”
Ancient Israel failed in their observance of God’s holy Sabbath. The true Israel of God are to be tested in this great truth also. In Matthew 24 we have the words of Christ advising His followers. He spoke of the destruction of Jerusalem, which a-dually occurred in AD 70, 39 years later. And in speaking of the necessity of their flight from that city, Christ said, “But pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.” Thirty-nine years of prayer that one Sabbath might not be desecrated. This is Christ’s http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auview of the importance of Sabbath observance in the Christian dispensation. Thus a true Israelite is one in harmony with the commandments of God.
That the term Israel includes the thought of character is portrayed by the words of Christ in John 1:47: “Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile!” And the same chapter that describes the result of the final message that produces a people keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, uses a similar expression to the words of Christ: “And in their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God.” Revelation 14:5. The greatest miracle of these days is the work of Christ and His, gospel in gathering a people out of “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,” and lifting them from the pit of sin and transgression, and making them Israelites indeed, without guile, and ready to meet Christ at His coming.
A Necessary Expression of Faith
ABOUT 2,800 years ago, there lived a prominent leader, a captain of a vast army. He was a favorite of his king; a mighty man of valor; but he was a leper. Notwithstanding his high national position, his I popularity, his victories in war, his leprosy remained. It was something beyond his power to, remove. This man’s name was Naaman, his king the King of Syria, and his history is recorded in the fifth chapter of the Second Book of Kings.
A RAY OF HOPE
Rich-in this world’s goods, Naaman would have given thousands of pounds’ worth of silver or gold to be cured of his leprosy.
But in his day a cure for that dread disease could not be bought from doctor or nurse, nor could it be found in medicines of any description dispensed by man. But a ray of hope shone from another source yes, a ray of light emanating from the great Sun of Righteousness, with “healing in His wings.” One great fact was as true then as now.
The mighty God of the universe ruled, and was mightier than the deadly grip of leprosy.
Naaman’s wife had a servant girl from the land of the Israelites. She was a captive girl, but knew well the power of her God. She directed attention to Elisha, the prophet of God, living then in Samaria. Possessed with a supreme desire to be clean from his leprosy, Naaman drove in his chariot to the door of Elisha. A wise move indeed.
The prescription for the cure of Naaman’s leprosy is recorded in 2 Kings 5:10, “Go and wash in Jordan seven times.” Poor Naaman could see no wisdom in this divine prescription, and was filled with rage. Had he not better rivers in his own country? The waters of Abana or Pharpar were surely better. Why the command, “Go wash in Jordan”? He failed to comprehend that God, the great healer of bodies and souls, was not dependent on the virtues of water to heal. The promised blessing awaited Naaman’s obedience to an inspired command. Not in the flowing waters of the Jordan lay the virtue to heal; but a simple demonstration of faith and obedience, that could be given only by his going into the water as commanded, brought the promised blessing. To “wash in Jordan” in the way specified, was the way of obedience and healing. Naaman’s servant speaks: “If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst you not have done, it? How much rather then, when he said to thee, Wash, and be clean?”
Naaman saw light. “Wash and be clean.” No other remedy, but simple obedience to heaven’s message. He obeyed. His obedience to the plain message of Heaven through the prophet of God, brought ‘its reward. It always does; it always will.
LEPROSY OF SIN-CAN IT BE WASHED AWAY?
Like Naaman of old, we find no man-made cure for the leprosy of sin. “Nitre and soap” are powerless to remove its foul stains. Jeremiah 2:22. I once read of an advertisement extolling a-wondrous preparation for the removal of all stains in cloth. It was “sure to do it, never known to fail.” But I am thinking now of other stains-stains that have struck into the very textures of life, and have left, their black mark on the character. And who has not known the sting of sin? While the heart sickens at, the enormity of sin’s guilty stains, we hear the sweet words of hope as found in Isaiah 1:18. “Come now, and let us reason http://www.ThreeAngels.com.autogether, said the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool.” God has a remedy for sin’s scars as surely as He had for Naaman’s leprosy; and like Naaman we must believe in the remedy, and act accordingly.
The remedy is found in Christ, by virtue of His death, burial, and resurrection. He asks us to believe this, and He requires a simple though commanded demonstration of our belief in the efficacy of the atoning sacrifice of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection on our behalf by being “buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4.
God breaks the shackles of sin for those who follow the part of simple faith and obedience. Naaman was healed, not by the water of the river Jordan, but by the Lord whom he obeyed by his washing in the river. So with baptism, the virtue is not in the water, but in faith in, and obedience to, Christ, demonstrated by our burial in the water as commanded.
So we read “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 3:21.
FAITH IN GOD’S PLAN OF SALVATION
The ordinance of baptism is the expression of our faith in God’s plan of salvation through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. It is the evidence of a good conscience toward God. Simple faith and obedience are well pleasing to our heavenly Parent, and always bring their reward.
On the other hand, to reject the command of God regarding baptism is to do so to our eternal detriment. To ignore or reject baptism would be an expression of indifference, disregard, and disbelief toward Christ, who commanded, “Go you therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Matthew 28:19. Luke 7:29, 30 clearly shows that those who rejected John’s call to repentance and baptism rejected not merely the message of a preacher, but “rejected the counsel of God against themselves; being not baptized of him.” That baptism, which Jesus, the superintendent of the universe, Himself requested, urged, and .received, saying, “Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:13-16), men, in our day as in His, reject to their own detriment, “against themselves,” as the Scripture puts it.
People today might reason along the lines of Naaman and question the wisdom and necessity of baptism. But Christ says, “Ye are My friends, if you do whatsoever I command you.” John 15:14. In 1 Corinthians 15:2-4, Paul refers to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ as the basis of salvation. He wants to know if you believe that, and if you are prepared to let the world know that you believe it.
He tells you how to give evidence of your belief, and expects you to act accordingly! Do you inquire how? You will find full instructions in Romans 6:1-15. You yourself must participate in a very literal death to self and sin, followed by a complete burial in the waters of baptism, and a rising to newness of life.
If this death to sin is genuine, sins being not only confessed but forsaken, and completely buried in the waters of baptism, and the “newness of life” with Christ continues, it is accepted of Heaven as a demonstration of our faith in the efficacy of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. It becomes in the words of 1 Peter 3:21, “the answer of a good conscience toward God.”
What It Is, and What Must Precede It
THE following are additional thoughts on the subject of baptism from Pastor Mitchell’s mission address on Sunday night:
A knowledge of the etymology of the word “baptize” as well as its use in Scripture, is to know that its meaning is immersion or complete burial in the water. It is derived from the’ Greek word “baptizo,” coming from the Greek word “bapto,” which means to whelm or cover wholly, to dip or immerse. Tertullian uses the word “dipped.” This is the real meaning of baptize. Neither in Scripture, nor in the Greek classical literature is “baptizo” ever translated “sprinkling” or “pouring,” but always either “baptized,” “buried,” “dipped,” “immersed,” “covered,” “planted,” “washed,” “plunged,” or http://www.ThreeAngels.com.au“overwhelmed.” These are the only definitions which are given the word “baptize” by Greek lexicographers.
SCRIPTURAL PRACTICE
Christening by pouring or sprinkling water on the head is not baptizing. “Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism,” explains Paul in Romans 6:4. John 3:23 reads “And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.” Here, you notice, the people went to the place where there was “much water.” Little water is all that is used in christening, which contrast reveals how far the practice of sprinkling has strayed from the apostolic command and practice of baptism. Christening with a few drops of water is not synonymous with baptism, but something entirely different, and absolutely foreign to the Scriptural command and practice. There is nothing in christening that signifies the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Christening is emblematic of nothing in the gospel plan, and therefore is a meaningless and worthless, though harmless, ceremony, except for the fact that many people being satisfied with this useless infant sprinkling are thus robbed of the desire to seek the true baptism as commanded and taught in Scripture.
Jesus, the true pattern for Christians, was, according to Matthew 3:13-16, baptized not on the banks of the Jordon by a few drops of its water being sprinkled on His head, but by His going right into the waters of the river, where He was baptized by John, as is proved by the fact that He, “when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water.” Matthew 3:16. Describing the baptism of the Ethiopian by Philip, Acts 8:38 tells of their going down, “both into the water.” The Ethiopian churches of Abyssinia, which were founded by Frumentius during the fourth century, never fell under the influence of the Roman Catholic Church (which church led the way in adopting sprinkling instead of immersion) until the seventeenth century. And it is interesting to note that the Christian churches of Ethiopia which were not influenced by the European drift from apostolic doctrine, always observed the practice of baptism by immersion. In fact, baptism by immersion was the practice in European and other countries for thirteen centuries of the Christian era, even by, the Roman Catholic Church, as is taught by their historians. In some of the oldest Roman Catholic cathedrals in the most ancient of European cities, built in some cases as early as the fourth century AD, there are still to be seen immense marble baptismal fountains, in which believers were immersed centuries ago. In reply to questions asked by visitors the priests always reply: “These baptismal lavers were used in the early centuries by this church to immerse the converts as they came into the church. We no longer use them; we practice sprinkling now.”
The Greek Catholic Church still practices immersion. Here is an interesting statement from the pen of Charles S. Longacre after his travels through thirteen countries in Europe: “In visiting the Greek Catholic churches in Rumania and Yugoslavia, we found that the Greek Catholic Church, which is the established church of those countries, and antedates in origin even the Roman Catholic Church, has always practiced and does still practice, baptism by immersion. The Greek Catholic Church uniformly practices trine immersion.” Dean Stanley, the famous English churchman and historian, puts the historical facts in a few words: “Immersion was the invariable practice of the primitive church. It was the almost universal practice of Christians for thirteen centuries.”
AGE FOR BAPTISM
Referring to the correct age for baptism, it must at least be the age of intelligent understanding. A whole-hearted surrender and intelligent, obedient service to Christ, however, are of more importance than age. Luke 3:21-23 gives the age of Christ at the time of His baptism as “about thirty years.” I have read of persons of a hundred years and over, even up to 11 of years of age, being baptized.
During the years of my ministry I have baptized men and women of ages ranging from the early teens to around the eightieth year or over, but never an infant.
Now I will cite some necessary prerequisites to baptism which show that God never intended that infants should be baptized.
First. Matthew 28:19, 20 places the command to “teach” before baptism. Instruction in the fundamentals of the gospel being a necessary preparation to baptism excludes those not of the age of understanding.
Second. Mark 16:16 shows that believing is an essential that precedes baptism: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” The Ethiopian of Acts 8:36, 37 asked, “See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized?” And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart you may.”
Third. The third essential that must precede baptism to repentance is a reformation and the forsaking of sins. Peter said, “Repent and be baptized and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:38. An infant has no sins of which to repent, and therefore needs no baptism.
Fourth. The fourth essential is obedience. The Holy Spirit is promised to those who repent and are baptized. But Acts 5:32 states that God gives the Holy Spirit “to them that obey”; therefore obedience is a necessary prerequisite to baptism, if we expect God to accept our baptism, and fulfill His promise in giving the Holy Spirit. In order for baptism to have any value and virtue to the souls to whom it is administered, these four necessary steps must precede it.
ONE IMMERSION
Now we may say a word about trine baptism as practiced by some. Some, because of the command to be baptized into the “name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” think that this necessitates a threefold baptism. But this is unscriptural. Ephesians 4:5 says, “one baptism,” or, to make it plainer, one immersion, for immersion is the true meaning of the original text. One immersion, not three, is the requirement of Scripture. The fact that, as Romans 6:5 teaches, baptism is to be “in the likeness” of Christ’s death and resurrection, proves that it is a single immersion, for Christ had but one burial and one resurrection. This is true of single immersion, and none other; and no other mode is taught anywhere in the .sacred canon of Scripture. The words of Francis Ridley Havergal apply very fittingly to baptism: “We may be quite sure of three things. First, that-whatever our Lord commands us, He really means us to do. Secondly, that whatever He commands us is for our good always. And thirdly, that whatever He commands, He is able and willing to enable us to do, for ‘all God’s biddings are enabling.’
Vital to Those Who Accept Christianity
SPEAKING on the importance of baptism, in the mission tent on Wednesday night, Pastor Mitchell said:
During the years of my contact with men and women as an evangelist, missioner, and minister of religion, I have come in contact with various shades of opinion regarding the doctrine of baptism. I have met some who were satisfied with the christening they received as infants. Others feel that so long as they have been born or baptized of the Holy Spirit, that is all that is necessary. And though Bible students may hardly believe me, yet it is a fact that I have met a belief to the effect that, since apostolic times, the baptism of the Holy Spirit only, is God’s plan. Now it is not my purpose to trouble you with these conflicting opinions, for I am satisfied that those holding these unscriptural views have not studied the Scriptures fully on this subject, or perhaps they have studied under the shadow of preconceived opinion.
JESUS POINTS THE WAY
Now I propose to show that the Bible commands baptism as a definite part of the duty of all who accept Christianity. My first scripture contains the words of Jesus Himself, as found in Matt 28:19, 20. Notice them carefully: “Go you therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Note that this command to baptize is for “all nations,” and that it includes all time, “even unto the end of the world.” It is evident then that baptism was not to cease with John, or with apostolic times. Further, the baptism referred to here must of necessity be baptism by water, for that is the only baptism delegated to the ministry of men. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is of God. Though it is the privilege of Christian ministers to be “filled with the Spirit,” yet with reference to our obeying the command of Christ to baptize, the baptism we conduct and administer must of necessity, in the words of Ephesians 4:5, be confined, to “one baptism.” But this baptism of water is for all nations, and for all time, and is closely associated with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which baptism is worthy of being discussed separately.
A further record of this world-embracing command of Christ is found in Mark 16:15, 16, where baptism is definitely associated with salvation. Baptism is cited here as a prerequisite to salvation: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” http://www.ThreeAngels.com.au
PETER AND PAUL
The second time baptism is commanded in Scripture is the command of Peter. On the authority of Christ, and by His instruction, Peter commanded baptism to the multitudes that heard him preach. Acts 2:37, 38 tells of the multitudinous gathering on the day of Pentecost inquiring, “What shall we do?” “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” And like the command of Christ that was for all nations and for all time, “even unto the end of the world,” Peter continues in Acts 2:39 by referring to the promise of the Holy Spirit, associated with baptism. He said, “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Baptism by water, commanded here by Peter, and the promise of the Holy Spirit were according to God’s plan to continue right along through the Christian dispensation to the end of time.
The third time baptism is commanded in Scripture is the command of Ananias. Instructed by the Lord, Ananias commanded baptism, to Paul. Acts 9:6-19 records the miraculous conversion of Paul. Truly Paul, if anyone, was converted. And he cried out, as all truly converted men will do, “Lord, what wilt You have me to do?” The Lord instructed him to “go into the city, and it shall be told thee what you must do.” , Then by means of a vision, Ananias, a servant of God, was instructed to visit and instruct Paul. Paul tells the thrilling account himself in Acts 22:10-16. He outlines the instruction received from Ananias, and then, as verse 16 states, he was to commence his career as a Christian by being baptized. “And now why tarry you? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” This was the answer to Paul’s question, “Lord, what wilt You have me to do?”
SALVATION AND BAPTISM
The fourth reference to a command for baptism is found in Acts 10:47, 48. This is several years after the wonderful ingathering of souls on the day of Pentecost, and Peter finds himself under the direction of God called to instruct the Gentiles. He gives them the same command regarding baptism as he gave on the day of Pentecost.
BAPTISM A DEFINITE COMMAND
The scripture explains itself. It reads; “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.” Here definite reference is made to water baptism, the candidates having already “received the Holy Ghost.”
The final reference to baptism, made by Peter, is found in 1 Peter 3:21, written in AD 60, in the later years of Peter’s ministry. But here he is still emphasizing its importance, and he links salvation and baptism together: “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us.”
A fifth reason why men and women should be baptized is found in the words of John 3:5: “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” That being born of water refers to baptism is definitely taught in Romans 6:1-11, and Acts 10:47, 48; also Colossians 2:12 and 3:1. Surely no Christian will look with indifference upon Christ’s words of John 3:5, which place the utmost importance upon being baptized, or born of water, as well as of the Spirit.
AN AGE-OLD QUESTION
Now notice the following similar questions asked by different persons on different occasions. First, the cry of the multitude on the day of Pentecost, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Acts 2:37. Second, Paul’s cry from the newly converted heart as recorded in Acts 9:6 and 22:10, “Lord, what will You have me to do?” “What shall I do, Lord?” And, thirdly, the cry of the jailer of Acts 16:30, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” In each case as shown by the context of the various chapters, baptism followed as the reply to these questions.
The concluding scripture of this study is found in 1 John 5:8. “And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.” Surely here is food for thought. Do these three bear witness in your life? Do you have the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auin your life? Have you obeyed the command of Scripture and gone through the waters of baptism? And do you know the power of the blood to save from sin? Do these three bear witness in your life?
Essential to Adoption as Sons of God and Entrance to Heavenly Family
IN the silent dead of night on the river Niemen, that little stream separating Russia from old. East Prussia, on June 25, 1807, there was a meeting of two men fraught with great consequences. At midnight two boats put off, one from either shore. Each boat contained a solitary figure dressed with military decorations. One was Napoleon of France, the other Alexander of Russia. They met, saluted each other, and anchored their boats in midstream. The meeting was momentous, for it was to settle the, destiny of Europe, and to decide the division of territory.
With this introductory illustration Pastor Mitchell spoke in the mission marquee on Wednesday night on, the subject of the “New Birth.”
ETERNAL DESTINY OF MANKIND
But there was another night meeting, eighteen hundred years before, of infinitely greater importance to you and me. It took place just outside the stone walls of old Jerusalem, on the shaded slopes of the Mount of Olives. At this meeting information was disclosed the acceptance or rejection of which will decide the eternal destiny, not of Europe only, but of mankind. The two who met on that momentous occasion were not empire builders of this world. One was Jesus, the Savior of men; the other, Nicodemus, who had great admiration for the masterly ability of Jesus as a teacher. “Rabbi,” he said, “we know, that You art a teacher come from God.” He sought instruction; his need was salvation. He addressed Jesus as a teacher; what he needed was a Savior. Not theoretical knowledge, but spiritual regeneration was his lack.
Jesus, the Master Teacher and Savior as well, came directly to the greatest need in the life of Nicodemus. Though he was a citizen of the highest civil and social standards, Jesus said to him, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3. Yes, Nicodemus, I mean you. “Marvel not that I say unto thee, you must be born again.” John 3:7. Nicodemus was surprised that such a message should be pressed home to his own self. Did a man of his status need a new birth? To whom was Jesus speaking? A thief? “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3.
An adulterer? A murderer? Oh, no; far from it! Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews, learned, cultured, talented, honest, moral. Let us get the lesson. Had it been to the woman of Samaria who had had five husbands, or one of the fraudulent tax gatherers, we might have missed this great truth. The man who prided himself in his high moral qualities might have excused himself from the necessity of a new birth. But no! Catch the import d this great message. Nicodemus was uncondemned by the highest social standards, and was orthodox in his views, yet he heard the words addressed to his own heart: “Ye must be born again.” The words of John 3:3, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” apply not only to the sinner of the deepest dye, but to all men.
BORN OF THE SPIRIT
Three times in Scripture the word “except” is used with tremendous solemnity. In, Luke 13:3:“Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish.” Matthew 18:3: “Except you-be converted, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” And again, in John 3:3, with marginal reading: “Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Without the new birth of the Spirit a man is but gifted, moral, or refined flesh. “That which is born of the flesh is, flesh.” John 3:6. And John 6:63 reminds us that the qualities of the flesh profit nothing. The expression, “born of, the flesh,” only means that a man’s carnal nature is in control. Such persons cannot understand God’s way or His message, or become members of the heavenly kingdom, any more than a singing canary can I understand human communications or become a member of the human family. Unless one is born of the Spirit, one cannot please God, and would be out of place in heaven; he is therefore debarred from heavenly citizenship, until he enters through the “new birth” gateway to, the kingdom.
“Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born, If He’s not born in thee, thy heart is still forlorn.”
The issue cannot be evaded. He who is born but once will die twice. But he who is born twice will die but once, and that death has been changed into a sleep, which terminates with the resurrection.
Thus it becomes a very solemn question: Have you been born again, born from above, born of the Spirit? It is said of Wesley that he reached more than a thousand times from the text, “Ye must be again.” And when asked why he preached so much from one text, he replied, “Because, you must be born again.”
Romans 8:4 reveals the fact that the “righteousness of the law’- can only be fulfilled in those “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” And verse 9 states: “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” The same experience is described by Peter, “That you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” Romans 8:15 refers to those thus born of the Spirit, and led by the Spirit, as having “received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” 1 Peter 1:23 reads: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives and abides for ever.”
THE NEW BIRTH
Being thus adopted into the family by this new birth, 1 John 3:2 explains: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God.” Revelation 3:5 shows that the name is written in the book of life. And. Revelation 3:12 and 14:1 refer to the Father’s name being received.
Even in this world some countries require the birth certificate to accompany the passport before admission is granted. You and l are nearing the great boundary line of the eternal country. Is your birth certificate into the heavenly kingdom registered in the books of that kingdom? It will be necessary that our names are there as a result of the new birth, and that they have not been blotted out as a result of unconfessed sin. Will there be any luggage inspection? I well remember walking off the ship into the Customs Department in Wellington, New Zealand, in the closing days of December, 1926. I remember the Customs officer examining the goods of a Chinese. He was breaking open wrappers and examining each little detail. The Chinese said, “You all the time think he opium. He no opium.”
Have you examined your luggage with a view to entrance into the last great port? Sins will have to be overcome, confessed, forgiven. No sins will enter heaven. Some may try to smuggle in some little pet sins, but they will be disappointed. Do you and I approach the border line of eternity with confidence? One of the saddest things one can imagine would be on the arrival at the last great customs port to be debarred entrance, because of not having been born again. Conversion and the new birth are two aspects of the one transaction. Conversion is our turning to God. The new birth is God’s response by giving us the enabling presence and power of His Holy Spirit, who, if not grieved away or “quenched” by sin, will safely lead the ones he controls ‘into the eternal harbor at last.
Big Dividends to Those in Full Partnership
DESIRING to educate his son in the profitable handling of money, a banker gave him a half-crown to invest. He advised his lending it on interest to some boy who could be trusted. The father promised to increase his boy’s capital if he invested the money wisely. When night came, the banker said: “Well, son, how did you invest your money today?” “Well, father,” replied the little fellow, “I saw a boy on the street without shoes, and he had had no dinner; so I gave him my half-crown to buy something to eat.”
“You’ll never make a businessman,” said the banker; “business is business. But I will try you once more. Now here is five shillings to invest; See how you can do it.”
A loud peal of laughter from the boy followed this speech. He then explained to his father: “My Sunday-school teacher said giving to the poor was lending to the Lord; and she said He would return to us double; but I did not think He would do it quite so quickly.”
Many others have learned by experience (but perhaps not as early in life as this banker’s son), the truth of the words of Proverbs 11:25, “The liberal soul shall be made fat.”
Not only are there definite blessings promised to those who are liberal in their gifts; but there are also special promises made to those who enter into partnership with God in paying what God claims as His.
From the study of such scriptures as Psalm 24:1, Haggai 2:8, and 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20, we learn that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,” including man and his money. Matthew 25:14-30 and http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auDeuteronomy 8:18 show that man has the use of the goods of this world, not as complete owner, but merely as a servant or steward, God giving him “power to get wealth.”
Leviticus 27:30 and other scriptures show clearly that the share God claims for our use of His goods is one-tenth, or a tithe of our income.
But God will not be in debt to man, but rather the opposite. He promises abundant blessings to those who are in full partnership with Him. And many have received remarkable dividends for their faithfulness to God in the payment of the tithe.
I use the word “payment,” for the tithe is what God claims as His. We pay our debts. We give gifts. The scripture states: “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord.” Other scriptures show that the tithe is reserved by God to support the most important work of caring for our spiritual needs. It is God’s plan that His work should be supported in an honorable way.
A letter published in the British Weekly by the honorary secretary of the Christian Stewardship Movement stated: “A generation ago a speech on tithing at the Keswick Convention proved a complete fiasco. Four years ago a similar speech led to over one thousand persons pledging themselves to the - practice. Our experience of the Christian public leads us to the conclusion that more and more believers are coming to see that until the expenses of the kingdom Are met, the kingdom cannot come.”
GREAT PHILANTHROPISTS
There are great philanthropists, such as Lord Nuffield of the Morris Car industry, who are probably working on the tithing system in parting with large amounts of their income. Some have consecrated several tithes of their income to benevolent purposes.
The world-renowned John D. Rockefeller during his life amassed one of the largest fortunes on record, and was blessed with a life that nearly reached the century mark. A biography of this remarkable man states that, “He has never had a drink, never played cards, never smoked, never been caught by the fastness of women, or the slowness of racehorses. Religion has been the dominating factor of Rockefeller’s life. His father had no particular brand of religion, but his mother was the daughter of a Scotch Baptist.
“Of all the Rockefellers, John D. has been the most religious. He has regarded himself always as the servant of God. He described his money as ‘God’s gold,’ and when asked, in one of the many Congressional inquiries which have investigated his money-making, as to how he made his immense fortune, he replied, ‘God gave it me.’
“Evidently as the result of his early religious instruction, when he took his first job as an office boy in Cleveland, he carefully tithed his income every week. Certainly he was blessed ‘in basket and in store.’ And when he retired from business he had given away more than five times the total amount of the fortune with which he retired. His gifts amounted to close on £200,000,000.”
Some time ago a lengthy article was published in the World’s Work entitled “Men Who Tithe.” It set forth with an abundance of evidence the remarkable success achieved by some of the world’s greatest benefactors who made it a rule in their lives to tithe their incomes. Doubtless a large percentage of the world’s really successful benefactors are men who consistently and regularly’ recognize that a tenth of their income belongs to- the Lord.
This article, written by William E. Shepherd, made reference to Charlie Page of Oklahoma, who paid his first tithe into the tambourine of a Salvation Army girl. Mr. Page stated that he was down to his last dollar, having that and fifteen cents. “Well, why don’t you tithe?” the girl asked. “Tithe? What does that mean?” asked the young man. “Why, the Bible says that we ought to give one-tenth of what we have to the Lord,” she replied. “All right,” said the youth, “I’ve got a dollar and fifteen cents. I’ll do better than a tenth. I’ll give fifteen cents.”
He never forgot the Scripture lesson of that day but recognized the tithe as God’s money ever afterwards. He became financial, and devoted large sums of money especially to the care of unfortunate children.
Here are two other quotations from the same source: “Twenty-five years ago a business man in a town in Kansas failed in business, with debts of more than £20,000. Today he might be many times a millionaire, if he desired. Close friends know big story, and it runs like this:
“When he was worse than bankrupt, he opened his Bible at Genesis 28:22, and, drawing a pencil mark around this twenty-second verse, he said: ‘From this moment on, as long ‘as I live, of all that God gives me I will give Him one-tenth.’
“LAY NOT UP TREASURES ”
“Years later, as the president of one of America’s most successful manufacturing companies, he wrote: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,” etc., and the interview of the rich young ruler - these teachings gave me the conviction some years ago that all of my income, except what the family needs, was to be given for building up the kingdom of God. I have had more joy, I am sure, than I would have received from becoming a millionaire.”
Mr. Shepherd tells of Mr. Thomas Kane as head of two large’ manufacturing concerns, and one of the most notable tithers in the United States. During a period of over forty years he spent much money to prove to his fellows the moral and material benefits of tithing.
His inquiry, sent out in the form of a pamphlet, has become famous wherever it has gone. It runs: “My personal belief is that God honors both temporally and spiritually those who devote one tenth of their income to His cause. I have never known an exception. Have you?” It is said that in forty years, Mr. Kane has never received an affirmative answer to his query.
These men who have as tithe payers increased their finances and’ become great benefactors, recognize that the spiritual blessings derived from this practice as far exceed the material as the divine excels the human, and the celestial excels the terrestrial.
Seeing that God claims the tenth as His, it will be observed that when one supports his church by paying into the church treasury his tithe, he thus pays his minister, and supports the preaching of the gospel, without parting with one penny of his own money.
Of course many devote more than the tithe to the furtherance of the gospel. That then becomes a gift. The Bible speaks of tithes and offerings.
Rebuking the Devourer
I AM a son of the soil. My father’s father was one of the early Victorian settlers, coming out from Somersetshire, England. My mother’s father, from Ireland, the land of potatoes and buttermilk, with a life partner from Scotland, also dwelt among the stacks of wheat and hay on Victorian soil. From childhood till the commencement of my college career, like my ancestors I, too, breathed the freshness of the ploughed furrow, and fields of waving green and golden grain. Little wonder, then, said Pastor Mitchell, in a midweek address, that I consider it a privilege to discuss the divine, conditional promises beneficial especially to the man on the land.
I refer to the promises found in Malachi 3:10, 11. These verses record a message direct from God to mankind: “Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, said the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and. pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, said the Lord of hosts.”
BLESSINGS FROM GOD
Years ago I was associated with a preacher who, like myself, had been called from the plough. I once heard him answering a question asked by a farmer as to whether he had received any material blessings since his decision to walk fully in the paths of obedience to God. “You have asked me a frank question; it is my place to give you a frank answer,” my minister friend replied.
Then he told of his experience as a farmer in Gippsland, Victoria. His farm has been the veritable centre of the caterpillar pest. But when he received a new experience in Christian things, and made a definite decision to obey God fully, things changed. The caterpillars were just as bad in the district as in previous years, forcing the farmers as usual to cut their crops prematurely, letting the grain ripen in the stocks to avoid having the wheat eaten off by the pest.
But the man following the Bible prescription for success told of his crop standing and ripening before being cut, and not one caterpillar being found in it. A farmer neighbor wonderingly searched the http://www.ThreeAngels.com.austanding crop for the voracious grub that had made it necessary for the surrounding crops to be cut before they were thoroughly ripe. Being unable to find even one of the devoured, he said to the Bible following farmer, “Providence smiles upon you.”
Here is an experience of a faithful tithe payer in Queensland, just as he has given it. “During a big drought in Queensland we were facing a serious situation. My large dam was dry, and I had been buying water. My ready cash had all been spent, and still the drought continued. It was my practice to rise very early in the morning, and spend an hour in. Bible study and prayer, sometimes from, four o’clock to five. One morning as I was praying for rain, I decided to put the matter to the test. I said to the Lord, ‘Now, Lord, those that honor Thee, You wilt honor. I have been faithful in paying tithe. I have, honored Thee.’ I asked Him definitely to send rain that very day, and believed that He would do it.
“The morning passed, and still the sky was bright and cloudless, just as it had been for so many months. Noon came, and as I went home to dinner, I noticed three small clouds the size of a man’s hand over the home. Before dinner was over, the room became quite darkened, and looking out we saw that the heavens were black with clouds. I went out to the barn to work, and in about half an hour heavy drops began to fall on the iron roof. Soon, the rain was falling in torrents, and continued for two and a half hours. When I went to look at the dam, there I found a great sheet of water to a depth of about four feet. It has never been empty since. No rain fell that day on any of the surrounding farms. My farm of about three hundred acres was the only one in the district that received the shower.” While God is not a respecter of persons, He is a respecter of character.
“NO MERE COINCIDENCE”
Here is an ‘experience from New Zealand which also illustrates God’s blessing upon those who are faithful in tithe paying. A Christian in New Zealand had a small farm and had experienced very bad years. At one time after paying his debts he had nothing left but his tithe money, amounting to £26. He gathered his family about him and said, “Now, all we have in the world is this £26 tithe. It is the Lord’s money, but we need food for the cattle and for ourselves. What shall we do? Shall we use this tithe? Shall we borrow it, or shall we pay it in?” if they paid in that tithe there would be nothing left.
They prayed over it, and decided to pay their tithe. They sent it away and had nothing left. Inside of three days a letter came through the post office containing the cash for just £26. It was a debt that had been owing to them for about ten years, and they had thought they would never get it, but they did get it, and at the right time. After the lapse of so many years, and under such circumstances, surely such an experience was no mere coincidence. And the fact that scores of similar experiences could be cited proves beyond all shadow of doubt that it is the definite outworking of God’s promises as recorded in our texts.
Now I shall relate an experience from a cattle station among the hills of the great New England Range, NSW, 4,000 feet above sea level. It is ‘from a publication entitled, “God in the Outback,” by Frances W. Waugh, who shared with her husband the experiences related. She tells how, in the midst of a severe drought, she studied with her husband -concerning the importance of tithing, and the privilege of claiming the promises of God to the tithe payer. The husband believed the Scripture, and decided to become a faithful tithe payer. He planted seed “in all good faith,” though the ground was parched, with no apparent prospect of rain. When the seed was planted, the following night the rain began to fall.
Then the writer tells how they were protected from a plague of grasshoppers that invaded the district, and also from a bush fire, driven by a fierce wind directly toward their home, and a paddock of weaners. So fierce was the wind that prayer was their only weapon. -After prayer the onrushing flames halted, a column of smoke ascended, and then the fire turned and traveled in an opposite direction just in time to spare their home and the young cattle.
GOD’S BENEDICTION
“Through drought, through plague, and through fire our Father had spoken,” wrote Mrs. Waugh, “and had pronounced His benediction on the feeble efforts of human hearts. We recognize the great God as Creator, Owner, and Lord of all; but we know Him best as the loving, condescending God of the outback.”
Pitcairn Island is truly an island plantation, a veritable Garden of Eden. The islanders are all Christians, being members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They are faithful tithe payers. The following is from a book by W. Y. Fullerton, “Romance of Pitcairn Island,” published by the London Carey Press. “Every tenth orange tree has branded upon it the Lord’s tenth. Every tenth row of produce has a stake with the same sign, marking it as devoted to God. On watermelons and muskmelons the brand is http://www.ThreeAngels.com.aumade by scraping off the thin outer skin to form the letters. Sugar’ cane is turned into syrup and a tenth is measured, or the tenth row is marked as it is growing. The islanders bear witness that never has as much money come to them as since they have proved God by bringing the tithes into the storehouse. So Pitcairn Island witnesses in its own way that God, who claims our all, makes a special claim on a seventh of our time and the tenth of our substance, and tells us that so much at least is the duty of those who seek to follow Christ. It would be well if we regarded the example.”
The Rich Fool, and the Richer Wise Man
NOTHING deceives men like money. There is many a man who considers himself wise, because he is building up a big banking account or large properties, when actually he is merely a rich fool. No dust is so blinding as gold dust.
People sacrifice health, character, and a world of things really worth while, and even life itself, for the sake of more money. Perhaps more will lose eternal life because of inordinate love for money, than any other one sin. What some consider clever dealing with their fellow men is, in the sight of God, covetousness, robbery, and nothing short of heinous sin.
EVILS OF GREED
What have men not done for money! What rivers of blood have flowed, what wars have raged, what dastardly and villainous crimes have been committed, all because of the greed for money! What empires, nations, and continents have been wrecked because of the base prostitution of money! How this crime of the ages has thrown families, individuals, and. communities into the bitterest and most heartbreaking quarrels, which have ruined lives and blasted homes!
I am well aware that the money question is to many a delicate theme. And there are some men so wrapped up in taking from their fellow men their hard-earned money-often the symbol of the daily toil and perspiration of a lifetime-that they have no time to think about heaven, and no chance to get there with the burden of their ill-gotten gain, even if they did. Those whose god is their money will criticize when a preacher talks about money. But practical Christianity demands the discussion of the money question. It often becomes the acid test of all our profession. The religion that does not touch a man’s pocket is not Christianity, for Christianity is the exact opposite of selfishness and covetousness. Dr. James Denny is responsible for the statement that more is said about money in the New Testament than about anything else. And L. E. Froom, in “Stewardship in Its Larger Aspects,” tells how, like a veritable milky way, a string of 1,565 references to man’s relationship to property and money stretches across the pages of inspiration from Genesis to Revelation.
USE OF PROPERTY AND MONEY
Many are greatly surprised when they learn how much Jesus said about the right and wrong use of property and money. It is estimated that one verse in every six in Matthew, Mark, and Luke is on money, and 16 of the 29 parables. A sample Scripture lesson is found in Luke 12:15-22. Here Jesus illustrates by referring to the common practice of the ungrateful prosperous. Entirely forgetful of the tithe, God’s share of their prosperity, and forgetting about giving an offering in proportion to their prosperity, they concentrate on building bigger barns to store their ever-increasing goods. Jesus explains that this practice of merely laying up treasure for oneself means that such a one is not rich toward God.”
Jesus pictures such a one as a fool. “You fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which you has provided?” Who wants to be a rich “fool?” The way, a thousand times better, the way of wisdom, is to enter into partnership with God, to give Him what He claims as His, and liberal offerings in addition, reckoning ourselves stewards of our Lord’s goods.
As a steward of the Lord’s goods we may enter heaven, but not as rich men. Listen to the thrice-repeated words of Scripture (Matthew 19:24; Luke 18:25; and Mark 10:23): “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” How strange that professing Christians will strive to be rich men, ignoring their stewardship to God in order to gain more money, when riches are an eternal barrier to heaven!
If you have riches, and want heaven as well, read the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, and remember that you must give an account of your stewardship. Read Matthew 23:23 and 1 Corinthians 9:714, and pay your tithe, and use the balance in constant recognition that all belongs to God, and that you are His faithful steward. Though a man without money is poor, a man with nothing but money is poorer still. Money will not glitter in the dark valley, nor pay the ferriage across the Jordan of death. I have known some people with precious little money, but whom I consider much richer than others I have known with plenty of it.
DEFINITION OF MONEY
A London paper offered a prize for the best definition of money. It was awarded to a young man who defined it as follows: “An article that may be used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven, and as a universal provider of everything except happiness.” Money will not buy friends-true friends who will stay in trouble as well as in prosperity. The prodigal son found this out by sad experience. And who would think of exchanging one real friend for any amount of money? Surely, none of us would, like Judas, sell our best friend for thirty pieces of silver!
There are greater riches than money; richer men by far than moneyed men. A minister visited by a tax collector for the purpose of assessing the value of his property, said to the tax agent, “I am a rich man.” The official quickly sharpened- his pencil and asked intently, “Well, what do you own?” The pastor replied, “I am the possessor of a Savior who earned for me everlasting life, and who has prepared a mansion for me in the eternal city.”
“What else?” “I have a brave, pious wife, and Solomon says, ‘Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.‘ “What else?” “Healthy and obedient children.” “What else?” “A merry heart which enables me to pass through life joyfully.” “What else?” “That is all,” replied the good minister. The official closed his book, arose, took his hat and said, “You are indeed a rich man, sir, but your property is not subject to taxation.” This man with no earthly riches was richer by far than the millionaire who lacks the true riches mentioned by this minister.
THE TRUE RICHES
Money transferred to God’s cause is credited as treasure in heaven. In supporting the gospel, one assists in preparing candidates for eternity. And no investment can compare with such returns as that. The results are eternal. On the other hand, the man who buries his money in the concerns of this world only - dies a poor man, for Scripture teaches plainly that he is registered in the books of heaven as a robber, guilty of stealing the Lord’s share of his talents. Many find that their money must leave them while living. And death parts all from their wealth, except the true riches, and the heavenly bank account.
There is a good deal of truth in the words of the old Negro who said: “I have heard folks say, ‘I hope I has religion, but I don’t know.’ That sort of religion you hopes you got but don’t know, aint going to do you no more good than the money what you hopes you got but don’t know.’ The money and property of this world have wings, but they won’t support a flight to heaven.
Major A. H. Pruchen, of Toronto, tells how when he left his cabin, when the Titanic was sinking, he left 300,000 dollars there and took three oranges instead. “Money seemed a mockery at a time like that,” he said.
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH GOD
A millionaire over in Oklahoma told a preacher his story of the uncertainty of money. “Preacher,” he said, “I have had three fortunes. This is my third. The first I made in the Klondyke in a gambling house. God won’t let any man keep money when he gets it that way. I got another in Seattle, and that wasn’t straight, and the Lord wouldn’t let me keep that either. Then I made up my mind that I was going into partnership with God. I promised God that next time I would make my money honestly and spend it for the cause of humanity. I first gave Him His tithe, and I have prospered ever since.”
It Was Made at Creation-Spans All Time
PEOPLE speak of the “Jewish Sabbath,” the “Christian Sabbath,” “Mohammedan Sabbath,” “civil Sabbath,” and various other Sabbaths. But in reality, so far as a sacred day is concerned, there is but one. The Bible from Genesis to Revelation makes reference to one and only one weekly sacred Sabbath. It is termed “the Sabbath,” “the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,” “My holy day,” “the” Lord’s day,” and “the Sabbath day according to the commandment,” various terms, but all applying to the one and only Sabbath recognized and owned by God: “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Thus declared Pastor Mitchell in his introductory remarks to an address on “The Christian Sabbath” in the Naval Hall on Wednesday night.
He said: The Bible nowhere speaks of a Jewish Sabbath. The Jews never claimed the power to make a Sabbath. They always observed the Sabbath given to our first parents at creation, and which with the marriage ceremony and the weekly cycle has come down to us through the centuries, blessed with the fragrance and freshness of Edenic purity. Now I propose to show from Scripture that the seventh-day Sabbath so often misnamed “the Jewish Sabbath,” is in reality Christ’s Sabbath by right of creation.
BACK TO THE ORIGIN
First let it be noted that if a Sabbath exists, it must have been made, We shall now see that the Sabbath was made, and also learn how it was made, who made it, why it was made, for whom, and how long it was to continue. We notice in Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for man.” Our first question now is, When was the Sabbath made? The answer is found in the first book of the Bible. The first five verses of the Bible give the account of the first day of the creation week. Genesis 2:1-3, gives the account of the seventh day of creation week. “Thus the heaven were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” Here, then, on the birthday of the creation of this world, the seventh day of creation week, the Sabbath was made.
THE SEVENTH DAY
Secondly, the same verses tell how the Sabbath was made. To make the Sabbath, God rested upon, blessed, and sanctified the seventh day. God has done that for no other day. The seventh day having been blessed, and sanctified, or set aside for a holy use, differs in that respect from all other days. There is only one “seventh day,” hence only one day of the week has the sacred recognition of heaven.
Our third question is: Who made the Sabbath? The answer is, Christ. One of the most significant and alluring of Bible revelations is that everything that God ever said or did that has to do with man and this world, He said and did through His Son, Jesus Christ. This striking truth is tersely stated in 1 Corinthians 8:6: “To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things; and we by Him.” The Father is the source, or fountain, of all things, and the Son is the active agent.
Colossians 1:14-16, makes it plain that Christ was the Creator of this world, and hence the Creator of the Sabbath at its completion: “In whom we have redemption through His blood: By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers’ all things were created by Him, and for Him.” John 1:1-3, 14 teaches the same truth-that all things were made by Him who was with the Father in the beginning. Hebrews 1:1, 2, speaking of Christ, says: “By whom also He [God] made the, worlds.”
THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH
The reason is explained in verses 8-10 of the same chapter. God the Father bears testimony to the deity of the Son. “But unto the Son He said, Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever.” And in verse 10, the Father, still addressing the Son, says: “And You, Lord in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Your hands.” The fact therefore that Christ was the active agent in creation, the Being who made all things, evidences the truth that it was Christ who, after He created the world, rested on the seventh day, and blessed and sanctified it. The Sabbath thus made by Christ must of necessity be the Christian Sabbath.
Furthermore, not only was it Christ who set aside the Sabbath for man’s use at creation, but it was Christ who included its observance among the eternal Ten, Commandments of Exodus 20, 2,500 Years later. At this time the Israelites were journeying from Egypt to Canaan. 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 tells us that http://www.ThreeAngels.com.authe One who accompanied them on their journey was Christ. And Nehemiah 9:6-14 tells us that He who led them also gave them the Ten Commandments.
BIRTHDAY OF CREATION
Our next question is: Why was the Sabbath made? The answer is embodied in the commandment itself: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8-11. The Sabbath, the birthday of creation, is to be observed as a perpetual memorial of the creative power of God. Psalm 111:4 states, “He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered.” And this memorial is of everlasting duration, “Thy name, 0 Lord, endures for ever; and Thy memorial, 0 Lord, throughout all generations.” Psalm 135:13. And Revelation 14:6, 7, giving the opening note of the final message to be heralded to the whole world prior to the return of Christ, admonishes us to worship God as the Creator.
Mr. Mitchell stated that it was his firm conviction that the reason why God has brought such a widespread and persistent agitation of ,the Sabbath question these late years is because it is to be especially emphasized at this time when the educational world, and the religious world to a great extent, is denying the Genesis account of creation. He stated that a two-year newspaper discussion, which the editor of the paper stated was the longest discussion ever published in any New Zealand newspaper, was concerning the Sabbath.
Our next point is, continued the speaker, For whom was the Sabbath made? In Mark 2:27 we read: “The Sabbath was made for man.” The Greek word used here is the generic term “anthropos,” and means all mankind. It is used 551 times in the New Testament, and refers to all peoples and nations under the heavens. The Sabbath certainly was not made exclusively for the Jew man, as is sometimes supposed. Isaiah 56:1-6 also teaches that it was for the Gentile man as well as for the Jew. It is part of the Ten Commandments the keeping of which Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14 states is “the whole duty of man.”
Our final question is, How long is the world to observe the Sabbath? I answer that it is the sacred link that spans all time, from Eden’s gates on into the new earth. The Sabbath of creation was the Sabbath of Sinai. It was the “Sabbath day according to the commandment” kept by the disciples when Christ was in the tomb. It was the only sacred day known to the disciples, before and after the crucifixion. It was to continue right on into the Christian dispensation. In Matthew 24:20 Christ, looking down to the destruction of Jerusalem, 40 years this side of the crucifixion, said: “Pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.” Revelation 14:12 pictures the saints waiting for the coming of Jesus as keeping the commandments, of which the Sabbath is a part. The last chapter in the Bible, speaking of the entrance into the eternal city of God, says: “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter hi through the gates into the city.”
But my closing picture stretches right on into eternity, into the new earth: “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, said the Lord.” Isaiah 66:23.
Traced from Creation Week
WHEN in Invercargill, New Zealand I was conversing with an elderly Scotch lady, whose husband had formerly occupied the mayoral chair of the city. She was a woman of a very studious and logical turn of mind, and liked digging into the deep truths of Scripture, especially the prophecies. After attending several of my lectures she spoke to me regarding the seventh-day Sabbath saying, “Sunday must be the seventh day, for the commandment says, ‘the seventh day is the Sabbath,’ and we observe Sunday as the Sabbath, therefore Sunday must be the seventh day.” I assured her that all scholarship and all sources of information taught that Sunday was the first day of the week, and not the seventh.
After proving my statement from the New Testament, I said: “Some of the old family Bibles have a list of the days of the week in them, and Sunday is listed as the first, and Saturday as the seventh day.” She was a typical “canny Scot.” She did not say much more just then.. But on my next visit she produced the large family Bible, which she had sought out to see if what I said was correct. She handed me the Bible, http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auone of the oldest early English type Bibles that I have seen, published in the year 1793, by M. and C. Kerr, Edinburgh.
Now here is the list of, the days of the week exactly as found in that Bible: “1 Day of the week, Sunday. 2 Day, Monday. 3 Day, Tuesday. 4 Day, Wednesday. 5 Day, Thursday. 6 Day, Friday. 7 Day or Sabbath, Saturday.” When I showed the lady this in her own Bible, she was so astounded that she gave me the Bible, and told me I could show it to whom I wished.
FIRST AND SEVENTH DAYS
More than one has been surprised to learn that, although the fourth commandment. says “the seventh day is the Sabbath,” yet Sunday is actually the first and not the seventh day of the week. I have told others that their own catechism would teach them that Sunday is the first day of the week. But I think that some in their surprise would feel like arguing with their catechisms. It often happens that people become convinced that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and say they would keep it if they only knew which day it is.
Now before turning to evidence from the Scripture, let us note these facts: (1) All scientific, chronological, and legal records regard Sunday as the first day of the week, and, therefore, Saturday as the seventh day. All astronomical calculations recognize it as such. All the laws of the nations recognize it, and most of them make a legal holiday of Sunday under the name of “the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday.”
UNIVERSALITY OF WEEKLY CYCLE
Now just a word about the weekly cycle. Unlike the year, month, and the day, it is not governed by any planetary motion. And yet all nations have observed this arbitrary fixture of time. This seven day period was observed from the earliest times, from Europe to the remote shores of Hindustan, just as equally as it prevailed among the Hebrews, Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, and the northern barbarians of remote antiquities nations sow of whom hap little or no intercourse with others, and were not even known by name to the Hebrews.
The universal recognition of the weekly cycle by all nations on the face of the earth is evidence that mankind had a common origin, and that before their dispersion into different regions, they observed the weekly cycle as given to mankind at creation. The great truth of creation thus memorialized by the observance of the seven-day period of time apparently was never totally obliterated from the memory of the Gentiles, even though their language was confounded, and they were dispersed throughout the world as recorded in Scripture.
Having thus noticed the historical setting of the antiquity and universality of the weekly cycle, we shall now catch a glimpse of the mountain tops in the Scriptural setting.
Genesis 2:1-3 gives the record of the original seventh day of creation week. Then we skip over the centuries to the time of the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt. Exodus 16 records the working of a threefold miracle for forty years which preserved the identity of the seventh day. The manna fell from heaven six days of the week, but none on the seventh day. On the sixth day twice as much fell.
It remained wholesome over the Sabbath, whereas during the week it would not keep from day to day.
CHRIST’S OBSERVANCE
Then coming further down through the centuries we find the Savior Himself observing the Sabbath during His life on earth. If there were any doubt about the preservation of the identical seventh day, this fact must surely remove it, for Christ observed the correct day. Luke 4:16. Then the circumstances surrounding the crucifixion of Christ have enabled us to establish the identical seventh day ever since.
The closing verses of Luke 23, and Luke 24:1 give us a list of three days of the week. The day of the crucifixion and burial of Christ is called the “preparation” day, which is kept up to this day as “Good Friday.” The day following is called “the Sabbath day according to the commandment,” which must have http://www.ThreeAngels.com.aubeen the identical seventh day, for the commandment says, “the seventh day is the Sabbath. And the day following that, the resurrection day of Luke 24:1, is called ‘the first day of the week.”
The Easter festival observed through the centuries of the Christian era, even to our time, with its corresponding days of the week, thus establishes beyond all shadow of doubt that the seventh day of the week is Saturday, the day that follows Friday, and the day that precedes the first day, Sunday.
The First Day of the Week
THE first day of the week is mentioned only nine times in the whole of the Bible, once in Genesis 1:5, where it is referred to as the first day of creation week, and eight times in the New Testament.
Startling as it may seem, it is not once stated in the entire Bible that God, Christ, or the apostles ever changed the Sabbath to the first day; or that they ever blessed or sanctified that day; or that they ever commanded anyone to observe it as a weekly Sabbath in memory of Christ’s resurrection; or that they or the apostolic church ever kept it holy or even made it a rest day; or that they ever called it the Sabbath, the Christian Sabbath, or the Lord’s day; or that they ever pronounced blessings for keeping it or threatening against its profanation.
Here are the eight references to the first day, as found in the New Testament: Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2. None of these eight texts attach any sacredness to the day; it is simply called “the first day of the week.” On the other hand, three of these texts refer to the day before it as “the Sabbath.”
RESURRECTION SUNDAY
Six of these eight texts mention the first day of -the week merely incidentally, in connection with the resurrection of Christ. There is no need for lengthy comment here, except to note that the resurrection Sunday was by no means observed as sacred in honor of the resurrection, for even “when they had heard that He was alive, and had been seen,” they “believed not.” Mark 16:11. Luke chapter 24, plainly teaches that even on that Sunday night, when Christ appeared to the disciples as they were having their evening meal, it was difficult for Him to convince them that it was really He, and that He had been resurrected according to the prophecies. John 20:24-28 records that more than a week elapsed before Thomas, after seeing the nail prints, was able to say, “My Lord and my God.”
Why, the term “doubting Thomas,” which is in common use even to this day, originated because of his difficulty really to believe that Jesus had been resurrected. Therefore it is plain that the resurrection Sunday was not observed as sacred in honor of the resurrection.
On the other hand, the New Testament record teaches that the disciples and all the followers of Christ strictly observed the Sabbath on the seventh day, the day before the resurrection. Let us turn to the record as given in Luke 23:52-56 and Luke 24:1. Here we have three days mentioned. The crucifixion day is called the preparation day. That was Good Friday, which is still observed as such. Now the next day following the crucifixion Friday is called “the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” After the body of Christ was placed in the sepulcher, late on Friday afternoon, by the followers of Christ, “they returned. and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56.
SATURDAY IS THE SABBATH
That is two days. First the preparation day, corresponding to our Friday, followed by “the Sabbath day according to the commandment,” corresponding to our Saturday. Now the next day mentioned was the resurrection day, and it is referred to in the next verse simply as “the first day of the week.” It is evident from this Scriptural record that the day observed as sacred, the Sabbath day, came between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In other words, Saturday, the day between Friday and Sunday, is the Sabbath according to the New Testament record. No man ever rose early enough on Sunday morning to find the Sabbath day.
Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:1-2, 9, and Luke 24:1 show that Sunday is the first day, and always comes after the Sabbath is ended. Matthew wrote his gospel six years after the resurrection. Mark was written 32 years after, and Luke 28 years after the resurrection, and yet each of these writers refers to the day before http://www.ThreeAngels.com.authe first as the Sabbath. The Gospel of John was written 63 years after the resurrection, and yet in his writings there is not a single trace of Sunday sacredness.
John 20:1 simply refers to the first day as a day of activity, after the Sabbath was passed, as in the other gospels. Our next text, after the six already covered in the gospels, is Acts 20:7. This is the only reference to a religious meeting on the first day of the week, in the whole of the New Testament. And this was a Saturday night meeting. It was a night meeting, for Paul preached till midnight. Now in Bible times the day was reckoned from “even unto even.” Leviticus 23:32. The first day of the week commenced as the sun set on Saturday night. This meeting mentioned in Acts 20 was a night meeting on the first day, hence it was a Saturday night meeting. The noted commentary by Conybeare and Howson, entitled “Life and Epistles of the Apostle Paul,” dealing with this chapter, says: “It was the evening which succeeded the Jewish Sabbath. On the Sunday morning the vessel was about to sail.”
There is no evidence or suggestion here of first day sacredness. The holding of a meeting does not make a day holy. Nor does the partaking of the communion supper on a certain day make that day holy. If that were the case, then Thursday would be holy, for it was on the Thursday evening, the day before the crucifixion, that the Lord instituted the ordinance of the Lord’s supper. And Acts 2:46 teaches that the breaking of bread was a daily matter in apostolic times.
PAUL’S FAREWELL SERMON
The - teaching of Acts 20 shows that while Paul preached his farewell sermon, his companions set off and were sailing around the peninsula. Then on the Sunday morning, Paul set off across country to meet these members of his company at Assos, a trip of 19 miles. Hence none of them regarded Sunday as anything more than an ordinary day.
The one remaining text that mentions the first day of the week in the New Testament is 1 Corinthians 16:1, 2. Here Paul taught that one of the first duties of the week was for each to lay by him in store, as God had prospered him, “that there be no gatherings when I come.” This was a systematic way of providing for the poor saints at Jerusalem. The Bible here says to “lay by him in store.” Various different translations make it clear that each person was to lay aside these gifts at his own house in readiness for Paul’s visit. It was not a collection at a public meeting.
Weymouth’s “New Testament in Modern Speech” translates this verse, “On the first day of the week let each of you put on one side and store up at his home.” The Tyndale version reads, “Let every one of you put a side at home and lay up.” The Syriac Peshito Version, “Let every one of you lay aside and preserve at home.” Three French versions read “at his own house, at home”. Luther’s translation, “by himself; at home.” From a complete survey of all the New Testament first day references, it is evident that we must look outside of the Bible for Sunday sacredness.
Sixty References in New Testament
SPEAKING on the subject, “Sixty References to Seventh-day Sabbath in the New Testament,” in the Naval Hall on Sunday night, Pastor Mitchell said:
Back in the year 1924, when engaged in evangelical mission work in Taree, a north-coast town of New South Wales, I was accosted by a well-dressed man in one of the business establishments of that town. “You seem to be stirring up the town,” he said. “And now the people are wondering whether they should keep the Lord’s day or the Sabbath,” he continued. I replied, “If you will show me the difference between the ‘Lord’s day’ and the ‘Sabbath,’ then I will keep the Lord’s day in preference to the Sabbath.”
Then he responded, “the Sabbath is not mentioned in the New Testament, is it?” I stated that the Sabbath was mentioned 57 times in the New Testament. The gentleman seemed incredulous, and asked if I could show him the references. I assured him that I could. After my interesting new acquaintance had left, the manager of the business firm informed me that I had been speaking with one of the ministers of the town, which to my surprise I found out to be the case, for later I attended one of his church services. Well now, I suppose there is some excuse for the man who sits in the pew, if the preacher who occupies the desk so far misses the mark as to suppose that the Sabbath is not mentioned in the New Testament. Now that was nearly twelve years ago, and between that time and the present I have met many others who seem to think that somehow the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath is not taught in the New Testament. So, right now, we shall notice a few facts concerning the Sabbath of the Lord, as we find it in the New Testament.
SABBATH AND LORD’S DAY
When speaking to my former minister acquaintance, I actually underestimated the number of Sabbath references in the New Testament, when I said it was mentioned 57 times therein. I was sure I could find it mentioned 57 times, but after a more careful search I find that the Sabbath is referred to 60 times in the New Testament, 59 times by the term, “Sabbath,” and once by the term “Lord’s day.”
In addition to this, the term “Sabbath days,” referring to the yearly typical Sabbaths is used once. Rather strange that the clergyman should have no knowledge of 59 references to the weekly Sabbath, and yet be aware of the one reference to the term “Lord’s day.”
The only place in the New Testament where God’s sacred day is referred to in the possessive case is Revelation 1:10: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” The term “Lord’s day” is not used anywhere else in Scripture, but other scriptures clearly show that it is merely another way of referring to the Lord’s Sabbath. There is only one day that God ever claimed as His, and that day He elsewhere calls the Sabbath. Mark 2:28 teaches that the “Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” This is the only day of which He claims to be Lord; therefore, the Sabbath must be the Lord’s day. Again notice the words of Isaiah 58:13: “If you turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day.” And then the commandment says, “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Exodus 20:10.
The day that the Lord claims as His must of necessity be the Lord’s day. “The Lord’s day, the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,” and “My holy day,” are synonymous terms.
In the previous lecture when we examined all the eight New Testament “first day” texts, there was not even a suggestion of its being the Lord’s day. No, there is not a suggestion in the whole of the Bible that the Lord’s day of Revelation 1:10 is any other day than the usual Bible Sabbath.
Now we come to the regular Sabbath day references in the New Testament. It is obvious that I cannot deal with all of the texts at length in this one address. I will tell you where they are found. Then I will refer to those that show plainly that the original Bible Sabbath did not cease at the cross, but continued according to God’s plan in the Christian era, being observed by all the apostolic Christians. In fact, it has been observed by millions of Christians through the ages of the Christian era even to our day.
The Gospel of Matthew refers to the Sabbath ten times, Mark eleven times, Luke eighteen times, John eleven times, Acts nine times, and Revelation once, thus making a total of sixty references. That the Sabbath was observed after the crucifixion is clearly seen from Luke 23:56.
JESUS AND THE SABBATH
That Jesus intended all His followers to continue to observe the Sabbath is clearly taught in Matthew 24:20: “But pray you that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.” Here Jesus foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, and the need for His followers to flee from the city. Jerusalem was not destroyed till AD 70, 39 years after the resurrection of Christ and the organization of the Christian church. Thus the followers of Christ were commanded by Him to pray for 39 years that their flight would not be on the Sabbath day 39 years of prayer that one Sabbath day be not disregarded.
Now for a glimpse at the example set by Paul the apostle. Acts 13:42 -44 states: “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to-hear the Word of God.” The fact that it was the Gentiles that requested a meeting again “the next Sabbath” is evidence that they knew nothing of first-day sacredness. And the fact that “almost the whole city,” Jews and Gentiles, worshipped on the Sabbath day is evidence that that was the recognized sacred-day of worship in apostolic times, many years this side of the cross. There is no New Testament record telling us that almost a whole city worshipped on the first day of the week.
The first recorded Christian meeting to be held on European soil was on the Sabbath day: “And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made and we sat down, and spoke unto the women which resorted thither.” Acts 16:13. Acts 17:2 teaches that the conducting of meetings on the Sabbath was Paul’s “manner.”
PAUL OBSERVES THE SABBATH
Acts 18:1-11 teaches that while at Corinth, Paul worked at his trade for a year and six months, but one day in the week for the whole eighteen months his trade was forgotten. “And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.” There is no record here of Paul’s abstaining from work at his trade on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday.
No, the Sabbath was the day he ceased working at his trade. The Sabbath was his day of worship, many years this side of the cross.
A correspondent of our city daily contrasts the numbers of first-day Christians of today with the smaller number of seventh-day Christians. But we have seen that in apostolic days all Christians observed the seventh day. On the “Sabbath day came almost the whole city together,” none came on Sunday. Today there are 220,000,000 Mohammedans keeping Friday. A great number of Christians keep Sunday. But what says the Scripture? Christ was crucified between two thieves, but He remained the true, spotless Lamb of God. His Sabbath today is crucified between the Mohammedan Friday and the so-called “Christian” Sunday, but it still remains the only true Sabbath of Scripture. Why is it that people object to keeping the seventh day, which is mentioned so many times in both Old and New Testaments, and yet are willing to keep Sunday, which was never commanded at all, either in the Old or the New Testament?
“He shall think to change times and the laws.” Daniel 7:25, R.V.
Saturday to Sunday
As advertised, I am to speak at this time on the subject, “Who changed the Sabbath?, or, more correctly, who is responsible for the public recognition of the first day of the week, Sunday, as a sacred day, instead, of Saturday, the seventh day, as commanded by God? With these words Pastor Mitchell opened an address in the Naval Hall on Wednesday night.
Continuing, he said: You will naturally be anxious to get an intelligent understanding of this subject, since our previous exhaustive Bible study lectures have revealed the plain truth that the seventh day Bible Sabbath is the only day recognized in Scripture as the Lord’s day of rest. From a thorough analysis of Scripture we have already seen that neither Christ nor His disciples recognized Sunday as anything but one of the six working days of Ezekiel 46:1. On the other hand the Bible Sabbath is part of the eternal law of God of which Christ said, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.”
Now it may come as a surprise to you to know that God clearly foretold that a certain power would presume to change His law. Daniel, referring to a power emanating from the fourth great monarchy, or the great Roman Empire, which later disintegrated into the ten kingdoms of Western Europe, says: “And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws.” Daniel 7:25. The Revised Version says, “times and the law.” From this it is plain that God foresaw the rise of a power that would attempt a change in His law. One of the commandments is a time commandment, and, strange as it may seem, that commandment has met with an attempted change.
CONSTANTINE’S EDICT
Now I am going to point you to sound evidence which you can verify. You can go into your public library, and read this statement for yourself in Chambers’ Encyclopedia, referring to Constantine, the once powerful Roman emperor. “Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the Sabbatical observance of Sunday is known to have been ordained is the Sabbatical edict of. Constantine, AD 321.” (Article “Sunday.”) Under the same heading in the Encyclopedia Britannica, we read: “It was Constantine the Great who first made a law for the proper observance of Sunday; who appointed it should be regularly celebrated throughout the Roman Empire.”
Sunday was the day dedicated to sun-worship, which Ezekiel 8:16 shows existed back in the days of remote antiquity. The North British Review speaks of Sunday as “the wild solar holiday of all pagan times.” “Verkstegan’s Antiquities,” published in London in the year 1628, states of our Saxon, ancestors: “Unto the day dedicated unto the special adoration of the sun, they gave the name of Sunday, as much as to say the sun’s day, or the day of the sun.” (Page 68.) The following is found in the same volume, page 10: “The most ancient Germans being pagans, and having appropriated their first day of the week to the peculiar adoration of the sun, whereof that day doth yet in our English tongue retain the name of Sunday.”
In the-days of Constantine, the leaders of the Christian church unfortunately compromised with the sun worshippers in order to gain a greater influx of members from paganism. And while the observance of the Bible Sabbath continued throughout the ages by a minority of Christians, even being found in Scotland in the twelfth century, yet the majority gradually followed the example set by the church leaders in the world’s commercial centre of the fourth century, most of whom under pressure relinquished their observance of the Bible, Sabbath for the pagan counterfeit.
Further evidence that the change came in the fourth century, and not in apostolic days, is found in standard books published by the church which can trace its history back to those days, and still rules at Rome. I am now going to read from “The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine,” page 50:
“Q. Which is the Sabbath day?
“A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.
“Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
“A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (AD 336), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.“
The next book from which I will read is one that I bought from the Catholic book store in Christchurch, New Zealand is “The Catechism Simply Explained,” by H. Canon Cafferata. It was published in London by Burns Oates and Washbourne Ltd., publishers to the Holy See, 1924. Listen to what I read from page 89. “A word about Sunday. God said, ‘Remember that you keep holy the Sabbath day.’ The Sabbath was Saturday, not Sunday; why, then, do we keep Sunday holy instead of Saturday? The church altered the observance of the Sabbath to the observance of Sunday. . . . Protestants who say that they go by the Bible and the Bible only, and that they do not believe anything that is not in the Bible, must be rather puzzled by the keeping of Sunday when God distinctly said, ‘Keep holy the Sabbath day.’ The word Sunday does not come anywhere in the Bible, so, without knowing it, they are obeying the authority of the Catholic Church.”
The next authority to which I refer is another standard Catholic book that I have brought along from my library, called “The Question Box,” by Conway. I understand this book is procurable at any Catholic book depot for a very small amount. I was fortunate enough to have this one presented to me. This is what I read on page 179: “What Bible authority is there for changing the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week? Who gave the Pope the authority to change a command of God?
“If the Bible is the only guide for the Christian, then the Seventh day Adventist is right in observing the Saturday with the Jew. Is it not strange that those who make the Bible their only teacher should inconsistently follow in this matter the tradition of the church?” Now that is a candid admission. I have these books, and anyone may examine the statements that I have read.
There is another statement, as published in the Weekly Call of February 22, 1884, “The Bible commands you to keep the Sabbath day. Sunday is not the Sabbath day. No man dares to assert that it is. For the Bible says as plainly as words can make it that the seventh day is the Sabbath, that is Saturday; for we know Sunday to be the first day of the week. I will give $1,000.00 dollars to any man who will prove by the Bible alone that Sunday is the day we are bound to keep. The observance of Sunday is solely a law of the Catholic Church. The church changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and all the world bows down and worships upon that day, in silent obedience to the mandates of the Catholic Church.”
The above sum of money is not the only sum offered for Bible evidence for Sunday observance. A Church of England vicar in London made a similar offer of £100 in the year 1924. And other offers have been made. And now I am going to make an offer. I am not a rich man, and support a home of seven. A month’s unemployment, and I would qualify financially for intermittent work, but here is my offer. I will give £5 cash to anyone who, after a careful study of the Bible, will produce Bible evidence proving Sunday sacredness.
Sabbath keeping is commanded by God, Sunday keeping by man.. Matthew 15. 8, 9 declares that worship according to man-made commandments is “vain worship.” In the fate of the facts of Scripture and history, dear friends, will you not begin now to obey all God’s laws, and keep His Sabbath?
Sunday Night Lecture
THE following line of thought was presented by Pastor Mitchell in the lecture pavilion on Sunday night to show that all creation and His past dealings with mankind, reveal the great truth that God is particular, accurate, and exact.
Have you ever met a man horn you have described as being very particular, exact, accurate? Why did you form such a conclusion? “Why,” you say, “I noticed his work, and his dealings with others.”
“‘His work, and his dealings with others.” Yes, your answer is right. Even a poor judge of character could make no mistake in that way. Had you said that you read his facial profile, his head, or the palm of his hand, your conclusions would have had but little weight, for even inherited characteristics are often changed by education, environment, and other factors. But there’s no mistaking the test of a man’s work, and his dealings with others.
EXTENSIVE MANUFACTURER
Now do you know that the greatest of all workmen, the most extensive of all manufacturers, the inventor and creator of your body, the world, and the universe, has also invited your examination of these two things, His work, and His dealings with men?
Catch the significance of the words of Isaiah 40:26: “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold.” When God wished to make Himself better known to job, He did so by drawing job’s attention to the works of creation, from the laying of the foundation of this world, even to the setting of the “goodly wings” of the peacock. Four chapters, commencing with Job 38, are devoted to revealing the wonders of creation. Have you ever examined any part of God’s vast creation?
Use the microscope and the telescope; examine in detail any part of God’s creation; and the closest scrutiny emphasizes the one great truth. God the great Creator is exact, He is perfect, He is particular.
Look with the astronomer at the stars above, and learn their story of precision and order. Our time is checked for accuracy by the planets of the universe. The sun, moon, and stars move with an exactness that knows not a moment’s delay. “Not one fails,” is the testimony of Isaiah 40:26. And the devout astronomer, who can tell you the exact second that a given star will appear in a given position, will answer in awed tones, “True, ‘not one fails.” The Psalmist says, “He tells the number of the stars; He calls them all by their names.” Psalm 147:4. Can you comprehend such accuracy, such exactness?
The same lesson is taught in the mathematical arrangement of the leaves, and charming coloring of the petals and flowers on a thousand plants, shrubs, and trees. Study the corn cobs manufactured by the million every harvest. Have you ever noticed an uneven number of rows of grain on an ear of maize or corn? You may find anywhere from four to twenty-four rows, but always an even number. I have read of a miller who during twenty-seven years of corn grinding looked in vain to find one cob exhibiting an uneven number of rows of grain.
An artist after painting a picture of a partridge showed it to John J. Audubon, whose life was devoted to a study of birds. The great ornithologist looked at the painting and said, “It is not right; you haven’t got the right number of scales on the legs.” The young artist had to learn that the scales on a partridge’s legs are numbered. And when you consider that every blade of grass, and every leaf of the forest is arranged in accurate conformity to mathematical law, you may then also agree with the fact that the “very hairs of your head are all numbered.” The “Wonderful Numberer” who presides over us all, has a careful record of the thoughts and deeds of our lives.
THE PLANETS OBEY
Our earth, in strict obedience to the law that governs its career, and a myriad other planets sweep on in their courses, without collision or deviation. Listen carefully. Ponder well this question. Will the Creator responsible for the perfection and accuracy of the physical universe look with carelessness upon the willful disregard’ by man of the law given by the same Creator to govern his moral standards? The planets obey. Man disobeys. Is God pleased? Is He particular? Will He accept willful disobedience? Listen, the God who calls the stars by their names, also says, “I am He which searches the reins and hearts: and I will http://www.ThreeAngels.com.augive unto every one of you according to your works.” Revelation 2:23. This brings us to the second part of our subject: God’s dealings with men.
MAN DISOBEYS
Just as God invites the examination of His works, so He invites our study of His dealings with men. 1 Corinthians 10:1-12 teaches that we should not be ignorant of His past dealings with mankind, but. learn lessons that will be to our eternal advantage. In this chapter manifestations of God’s displeasure with men of the past because of disobedience are recorded. And then a very significant statement follows. Note it carefully: “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” Verse 11. Those deeds of God against sinners of the, past, then, are written for our benefit. Verse 12 gives this warning: “Wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
Some are apt to think that time and circumstances have given, us a license to sin, with immunity from punishment as of old. But God warns us to remember the past, for punishment for disobedience will be repeated. In Luke 17:26-32 the Savior tells of past disobedience and the calamities that expressed God’s displeasure. And then Christ used the significant word, “Remember.”
OUR FIRST PARENTS
Now let us learn some lessons from His dealings with mankind. In Genesis, chapter 3, we find our first parents-being turned out of their beautiful Edenic home. Why? Genesis 2:17 records how God reserved one tree. Its fruit, though “good for food,” was forbidden. It was reserved by God as evidence of His ownership. -But Satan entered with his subtle temptations. Using the serpent as a mouthpiece, or medium, he urge, Eve not to be so particular about obeying God in the matter. You won’t die. The fruit will do you good; “your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods.” And so the rec6rd of Genesis 3:1-6 tells how Satan urged the turning of a deaf ear to the command of God.
Alas! Our first parents disobeyed. They coveted, they stole. But someone says, “What a trivial thing!” But that act, apparently so trivial, involved disobedience to God’s command. Disobedience to a command of. God spells sin, and sin is no trivial thing. The greatest problem of the universe is the sin problem. Sin it was that brought old age and death. Satan still tempts the same way. His slogan is, “Don’t be so particular.” God answers, “The wages of. sin is death.” Romans 6:23. The greatest evils which have afflicted the world have had small beginnings. How true! Solomon, the man of wisdom, said, “The little foxes spoil the vines.” Beware of that innocent-looking small sin. “God is particular,” is the inscription written on the arch of well nigh 6,000 years of sin and death, that commenced with our first parents.
LOT’S WIFE
Coming down the stream of time, we find recorded in Genesis 19:16-26 God’s destruction of those cities of extreme wickedness, Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot, his wife, and two daughters were commanded by God’s messengers, “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee.” Genesis 19:17. In their flight from Sodom, Lot’s “wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” Genesis 19:26. The act itself was an every-day act, but on this occasion it meant disobedience to a command from Heaven’s representatives. God would have us understand that Heaven’s commands are not given to be trifled with. And Christ’s warning message found in Luke 17:32, one of the shortest texts in the New Testament, is sounding across the centuries, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
ARK OF THE TESTAMENT
1 Samuel 6:19 records that 50,070 men were smitten by God, because contrary to instructions they curiously “looked into the ark of the ‘Lord.” 2 Samuel 6:6, 7 records the death of Uzzah for touching the same ark of the covenant. Why? Why was God so particular about the ark of the sanctuary? Ah, friends, the answer is found in Deuteronomy 10:4, 5. God’s holy law was in that ark-the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God. That sacred law is the only message in the language of men written by God Himself. God would have us render due respect to His name and seal, contained in that holy law.
Some today are treating the sacred law of God as of little consequence, But were their eyes opened they would learn a lesson. They would see the ultimate end of such a course mirrored in God’s fatal judgments of the past. Some say those things happened a long time ago. Is there any danger of our being http://www.ThreeAngels.com.aulost, because of willful transgression of the Ten Commandments today? Will you just ponder the words of 1 Corinthians 10:11: “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come”! Surely that is a message for you and me today.
Some say that the law of God was abolished. What a terrible delusion! Those under this delusion are like the Negro who was asked to sail by a certain star while his captain retired for the night. In the early hours of the morning the Negro awakened his captain, claiming to have passed the star. “I say, mister, where are we?” Awakening from sleep, the captain said, “I don’t know. Didn’t you sail by that star?” “Oh, yes,” replied the Negro, “but I got past that star, now, and want another one to sail by.” Likewise some claim to have passed the Ten Commandments, but God has not authorized any other guide to take their place. Listen to the words of Jesus, the Captain Himself: “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law.” Matthew 5:18. “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17. James 2:10-12 teaches that the “whole law” is still in force, and advises that we standardize our lives for judgment thereby. John viewing the heavenly temple wherein the judgment takes place says: “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of, His testament.” Revelation 11:19. It is useless to talk of its abolition when the original exists in the place of judgment in heaven.
A TIME COMMANDMENT
Exodus 20:8-11 reveals the fact that one of the ten is a time commandment. Is God particular about time? Yes, very. Here is how God regards time. Genesis 15:13, 14 shows that the Israelites were-to be in Egypt for a fixed period. They were to be afflicted for 400 years out of a total of 430 years. Now listen to Exodus 12:41: “And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.” When the appointed time came, even to the very day in a period of 430 years, the great host of Israelites were on the march out from the land of Egypt. To the very day in a period of 430 years! That surely is being particular.
Now is God particular about the sacred time of the commandment of Exodus 20:8-11, which says “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God”? Is He particular with regard to this time? Let Jesus answer. Listen to His wonderful instruction as recorded in Matthew 24. In that chapter He tells His followers, that Jerusalem is to be destroyed. He tells them they will have to flee from the city, and gives them a sign whereby they might know the opportune time to commence their flight. “But,” He adds in verse 20, “pray you that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.” Jesus spoke that prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 31. Jerusalem was destroyed exactly as foretold, in the year AD 70. Thus the Christians were commanded to pray for a period of nearly 40 years that their flight would not be on the Sabbath day. Over thirty years of prayer that one Sabbath day be not broken! Thus Jesus in the New Testament era reveals that God is exceedingly particular about the sacred Sabbath day. Are you as particular? You will be if Jesus through His Holy Spirit dwells in and controls your heart.
A DAY THAT IS DIFFERENT
Some say they see no difference between the Sabbath day and other days of the week. The difference is this: The commandment says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Exodus 20:8-11. And Genesis 2:1-3 shows how by resting upon it, and blessing and sanctifying that the Lord made the seventh day a holy day. It is the holy day of God. There is only one day, the seventh, that God thus made holy. You can never keep another day holy, for no other day was ever made holy to commence with. How can you keep holy a day that never was holy? The difference then between the Sabbath day and other days of the week is the difference between the sacred and the ordinary. The difference between faithfully regarding the seventh day as the sacred Sabbath of God, and disregarding it, is the difference between obedience and disobedience. The spiritual eyesight that sees no difference must be exceedingly dim.
Many there are who readily acknowledge the sacredness of the Ten Commandments. But while they endeavor to observe the other nine commandments, they make no effort to respect God’s command to keep holy the Sabbath day. This is a surrender to God, almost but not quite; obedience almost, but not quite. 1 Samuel, chapter 15, tells how Saul, because of obedience almost but not quite (which means surrender to. God, almost but not quite), lost his kingdom. And obedience almost but not quite will cheat many another out of a kingdom much more grand and enduring than was Saul’s.
Almost, but lost! How sad the words! Think of the ship that has weathered the storms at sea and almost reached the port, wrecked on the rocks outside the harbor. On a sinking vessel a passenger who is http://www.ThreeAngels.com.aualmost saved, is drowned. A man who almost succeeds, fails. And in the Christian life nothing but complete surrender will produce complete obedience.
The Royal Charter had been around the world, and was nearing her home port, Liverpool. Thousands awaited with the Mayor of the city and with bands of music during the night. But the Royal Charter never came in. It went down with almost all on board. Dr. Taylor, a minister of the city, was asked to break the news to the wife of the first mate. When he entered the home early in the morning he found the wife and family eagerly awaiting the homecoming of “papa.” But when the wife learned the sad news, she threw her hands to her head, staggered for a moment, and then fell, and as she fell she cried, “Ah, my God, so near home, and lost! “ How many will, because of only partial surrender and obedience, he almost saved, but lost! The partially converted person says, “What does it matter? that is near enough.” But the earnest inquirer, in the words of the. truly converted Paul, will cry out as did Paul, “Lord, what wilt You have me to do?” God is particular. Are you?
“Why l Am a Seventh-day Adventist”
ANSWERING the question, “Why I am a Seventh-day Adventist,” Pastor Mitchell delivered his closing lecture in the mission tent on Sunday night. He said:-
A precious. blood-bought heritage with which British subjects are blessed, is the right to worship according to the dictates of one’s own conscience. I sincerely trust that we shall not soon be robbed of this precious legacy.
BIBLE TRUTH FIRST
As a boy I was taught and confirmed in one of the old-established churches. But above all, I early learned to read the Bible and respect it as the source of, and guide to, all truth. To me it became the final court of appeal in all matters of Christian doctrine and deportment. And regardless of what others did I decided that personally I must put the Bible truth first, even before church or creed. I respect all men for their sincerity in religious matters. But sincerity in itself is not sufficient. No matter how sincerely or rapidly a man may travel parallel with the equator, he will never reach the North Pole while so doing. No matter how sincere one may be in one’s drinking of poison, it will never do one any good. I have never yet been convinced that you can get to the right place while traveling the wrong road. God expects us, in addition to our sincerity, to have enough interest in our eternal welfare to find out for ourselves the fundamental truths of God’s Word, and then to have enough honesty and courage to follow our convictions, regardless of consequences.
2 Timothy 2:15 exhorts us to study to show ourselves “approved unto God.” And we should take the advice of 1 Peter 3:15 and be ready to give a reason for our faith. I honestly set out to do this, and I discarded all ideas that, after careful examination, I found were not supported by Scripture. This decision to be guided by the Bible as my rule of doctrine, led me like Paul to leave the church of my forefathers. I became a Seventh-day Adventist. In this decision, however, I was not influenced by any clergyman of that denomination.
From a careful study of the Bible, especially the New Testament, I became convinced that the Seventh-day Adventists were right, and only after coming to that decision, and seeking for those who believed the plain Bible teaching as I then did, I did I come into contact with these Christians known as Seventh-day Adventists. My contact with this body of Christians has never been regretted. On the other hand, my confidence in God as our Great Benefactor, the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit’s illuminating power to guide into “all truth,” and my confidence in the reliability of the Sacred Scriptures have all increased almost beyond comparison as a result of my contact with the people known as Seventh-day Adventists. Here, briefly, as based on Scripture, is the reason for my belief.
IN THE GREAT TEACHER’S FOOTSTEPS
Firstly, I am an Adventist because Jesus was. Jesus believed in and taught His second advent. He said, “I will come again.” John 14:3. He believed He was coming again. And so do I. I rejoice in this great truth.
But you say, “Yes, but why are you a Seventh-day Adventist?” Well, I will tell you a story before I tell you my own experience. An Adventist minister met a friend of his boyhood days. The friend had become a judge in a large city. “Charlie,” he said, ‘I hear you are a Seventh-day Adventist, and I have always wanted to ask you why you keep the seventh-day Sabbath.” The minister Opened the Bible to Exodus 20:8-11 and read the commandment on that subject: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it you shall not do any work. .. . For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.’ Then he began to turn to other texts.
“Hold on,” said the judge, “was not that the law on the subject? Why do you need any more proof? As a lawyer, I know the law stands until it is repealed by the law-making power, or some greater power. God has never changed His law, and no ‘one else can change it. That fourth commandment is enough for me.’
With that judge I, too, believe that God’s holy law must be the final authority. His law is eternal. The fourth command of God’s holy law is still His command, just as surely as “you shall not kill,” “you shall not commit adultery,” and “you shall not steal.” James 2:8-10 warns us that we are to be judged by “the whole law.”
GOD’S SABBATH
Believing thus in the Ten Commandments, I looked at God’s command which says, “the seventh day is the Sabbath.” Having my doubts about Sunday being the seventh day of the week, I looked into the New Testament to see if I could find out which day-it upheld as the Sabbath. I found in the last few verses of Luke 23 and the first verse of Luke 24, the matter explained so clearly that within a fortnight I severed my connection with a cricket we played matches on the Sabbath. These verses gave the three days connected with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. The day of the crucifixion and burial is cited as “the preparation” day. Now we all know that day to be Good Friday. And then just as clearly as midday the scripture refers to the day that followed the crucifixion day, as “the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56. This verse states that the followers of Jesus “rested the ‘Sabbath day according to the commandment.” And the next day, Easter Sunday, is merely referred to as the first day of the week, in which the Christians resumed their activities after their observance of the Sabbath. After examining this and other scriptures, I thought, Whatever others may do, I must follow God’s Word. The last match of cricket I played my conscience troubled me more than the bowlers, and the next Sabbath when a neighboring town returned the match on our ground I was missing, and I have been missing from cricket matches or any other matches played on Saturday ever since.
Some people say, “Oh, Sunday is my Sabbath.” That is just the trouble. What we ought to observe is not our Sabbath, but God’s Sabbath. “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” We should not alter God’s commandment. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:17-19 that not “one jot or one tittle” shall pass from the law. We should follow the commandment exactly, not changing the jots or tittles. Here is an illustration which shows the importance of watching the jots or tittles:-.
The-alumni association of a great university at one time decided to have their motto, “light and truth,” printed in Hebrew characters on their stationery. The printer, not realizing the’ importance of the jots or tittles, or small characters of the Hebrew language, arranged the characters so that they read, “blasphemers and farmers.” Surely that was too bad for the farmers! But let us be careful of that which is of more importance. Let us be careful of the jots and tittles of God’s law. Obey it as God has commanded it, not as men interpret it.
OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S LAW
Did you know that that little word “Is” in the words of the fourth commandment? “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord“ is the central word of the whole Ten Commandments? Count over the words of the law of God and you will find it is so. We should leave the heart of God’s law in the law, where God put it, and obey it accordingly. I believe we should have enough respect for God and His sacred law to obey Him as He has commanded us. That is one reason why I am a Seventh-day Adventist.
Then, too, I find that I share very good company in my belief. Some of my spiritual ancestors are Adam, to whom the seventh-day Sabbath was first given, and Enoch who obeyed so well that God took him to heaven. Then Moses, too although he died, was afterwards taken bodily to heaven, and Elijah who stood http://www.ThreeAngels.com.auhttp://www.ThreeAngels.com.austrongly for God’s’ commandments was translated to heaven. Three representatives in heaven is good reason for one’s faith.
But I come now to the Man of all men, Jesus the Son of God. He was a Sabbath-keeper all His life, and He, too, is therefore a representative of my belief, now in heaven. I do not know any who have gone to heaven to represent those who fight against the commands of God, and substitute church tradition in their place. I meet them here, but they have no representative at the headquarters of the government of the universe.
I see a vast multitude worshipping according to church traditions. I am impressed with their numbers. They, too, are headed up by great and mighty priests and prelates. Surely that is impressive. Then I see a smaller company, who are careful to follow just according to Bible instruction. It seems a harder way. I am wondering which ‘shall be choice. But then I see someone beckoning from the small my group. I look again. It is Jesus leading the small company, keeping the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” as described in Revelation 14:12. My decision is made. At all costs, I must take my stand in the company in which I find Jesus.