We have considered our present position in prophetic history and the call to finish in this generation the work of preparing the way of the Lord. It seems natural that we should study now what that work is which prepares the way of the Lord, and to note whether there is any special emphasis upon any special phase of gospel truth for this generation. Our greatest need is to know the purpose of God for any particular time or work, and then to be in harmony with that purpose, so that God's purpose shall easily find expression in the earth through his church, the ordained channel through which light and knowledge shall be made known to the earth.
Now, while in different epochs of the world's history there have been special phases of truth to be emphasized, yet there is always one truth to be emphasized all the time; and that is that the purpose of God is set for the salvation of sinners who will exercise faith in the merits of Jesus Christ.
Now, whether it be in one age of the world or another, under one outward form of organization or another, yet always there is this one purpose of God,—that is, the purpose of salvation from sin. There have been special experiences that have seemed to mark off special epochs in the history of God's work in the earth. And there have been special phases of truth that needed to be emphasized at that time. That is, God's truth is infinite. It is all-inclusive. It is broad enough to meet every issue. It is broad enough to meet every form of opposition that may be raised against it. All it needs is that there shall be instrumentalities, that there shall be channels, through which the right phase of the truth may be brought to the earth; through which just those rays of light that are needed at that time shall shine forth, in order that the gospel shall be sufficient for the needs. That is, there is only one gospel, and that gospel is the gospel of salvation from sin through faith in Jesus Christ.
But that is infinite, and can be applied to every possible situation, to every possible opposition that may be brought against the gospel; and it is able to unveil every possible deception the enemy may bring to hide from men the light of God's truth. When the flood was impending, Noah gave his message, and the Scriptures say that he was a preacher of righteousness. That is always the gospel. But Noah's preaching of righteousness at that time meant that he should set forth clearly and distinctly that God had threatened the world with a flood, and that there must be a special preparation to escape it. That was preaching righteousness in Noah's day. To declare to the world an impending flood, and the necessity of preparation for it, would not be God's purpose for this day.
John the Baptist was a preacher of the gospel, raised up of God at a special time4to do a special work, but the burden of his work was, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” John's preaching of repentance at that time would not have been a message of repentance and forgiveness of sins, the message of righteousness at that time, if he had failed to make it very clear that the kingdom of God was at hand; that the time was fulfilled, and that he was the voice that was to prepare the way for the manifestation of the Messiah; and yet he preached nothing but the gospel of righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ.
In our own time there is only one gospel to preach,—this same everlasting gospel of salvation from sin,—but this everlasting gospel of salvation from sin must be preached in such a way in this generation that it shall declare also that the time is fulfilled, and that the kingdom of God is at hand; and such a message will prepare the way for the coming King.
Now, in order to make this clear to God's messengers, he has given for every such special occasion and for every such need a special setting for the message for that time.
Preparing the Way of the Lord
John the Baptist took his message in a very marked way, as the scripture says, from the prophet Isaiah. And when we note the scripture that is quoted as being the foundation of his message, we find that it came from the fortieth chapter of Isaiah: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem; and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; that she hath received of Jehovah's hand double for all her sins. The voice of one that crieth, Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of Jehovah; make level in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain: and the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it. The voice of one saying, Cry. And one said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, . . . but the Word of our God shall stand forever. O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up on a high mountain; O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold, your God! Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.”—American Revised Version.
Now that was a positive message of John the Baptist. And his message centered in this idea: Behold your God; behold the Lord God cometh. And when that day, on the banks of Jordan, he saw Jesus of Nazareth standing in the multitude, he took up that word of the prophet Isaiah, and applied it definitely in the setting that belonged to it, in his message, and he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.” It was necessary that John the Baptist should rise at that time and say, “Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.” And why?—Because God, as revealed for salvation from sin, because God, as the righteousness of his people, had been hidden from their eyes; a veil had been brought in between God and man, and man was taking the place of God; but the message took away the veil, and pointed out with distinctness the Lamb of God, the revelation of God in the flesh as the Deliverer from sin.
John the Baptist was to prepare the way of the Lord, to give knowledge of salvation in the remission of sins. But this work is not finished until the Lord comes, bringing his reward with him. That is, the work of John the Baptist was to prepare the way of the Lord when he was first manifested to bear sin. The work of John the Baptist will not be completed until the way is prepared for him to be manifested in glory. Therefore the very work of preparing the way of the Lord in this generation is to take up and complete the message of John the Baptist, to give knowledge of salvation in the remission of sins.
But there is for our time an additional, a new, setting of this message of preparation, and that setting is found in Rev. 14:6-12.
Let us note clearly that the gospel message to be preached in this generation, the gospel which is to be preached in all the world for a testimony to all the nations, to prepare the way for the coming King, is still the everlasting gospel of salvation from sin, and any preaching of this message of preparation in this time which does not find its sum and substance in bringing to the people salvation from sin, is not the message that will prepare the way of the Lord; and yet that message of salvation from sin is to be preached definitely in the setting that God has given for us himself, for this generation. It is by that setting that we are to know how to deliver the message in such a way that it shall meet exactly the situation in this generation.
The prophecies are clear enough to set forth that we have come to the last generation, but the mere fact is not enough. It does not save from sin, or deliver from the power of sin, to know the fact that this is the last generation, to know the fact that the coming of the Lord is near: there is an experience in this fact that must be known, and that experience in this message of the coming of the Lord, the experience of this message of preparation of the way, will deliver from sin, and will make the church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
Let us note some of the settings of this message. It is not to be expected that in one brief hour we can unfold all this message. The first thing that is emphasized is that it is the everlasting gospel which this angel has to proclaim. And the first words spoken as the setting of the message are these: “Fear God, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.”
Now that is a positive message to be declared. The second message simply states a fact, and introduces a name which needs explanation. “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen.” The third message is simply a further statement of fact. It is a warning against the worship of the beast and his image, introducing symbols that need explanation from some source, symbols that are not explained in these few verses. The warning is one of the most terrible warnings in the Scriptures: “If any man worshipeth the beast and his image, and receiveth a mark on his forehead, or upon his hand, he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger.”
Now to teach the gospel message of salvation from sin through faith in the righteousness of Jesus, the only Mediator and Saviour, and to preach it with these verses as the syllabus, is the work to be done to prepare the way of the Lord in this generation. And the very first thing to which we are introduced in the message, in the words, “Fear God, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come,” brings us face to face with that which sets forth in the fullest manner the whole provision of God for the salvation from sin. And that whole provision is wrapped up and revealed in the sanctuary question. And by the terms of this message, the first thing that we are brought to face when we are to preach salvation from sin through faith in Jesus Christ, is the whole question of God's provision for the remission of sin as set forth in the sanctuary.
Dealing With Sin
And this brings us to note the real meaning of sin. What is involved in sin? Sin is such treason against God and his righteous government as means the casting down of God from his throne, and the putting of the sinner in the place of God. Every sin involves the casting down of God from his throne. That is what sin means, no matter what the particular sin be,—the casting down5of God from his throne, and the setting aside entirely, the annihilation, of God and his righteous government, and the establishment of the sinner and his unrighteous way in the place of God.
Now how does God deal with sin which has that meaning in it? He does not abdicate his throne in favor of the sinner; but he sets forth a provision for the conduct of his government, even when that effort to cast him down from his throne has been made. That is, he sets forth his government as adapted to subjects who are in rebellion against him, and he makes it clear that the power by which he will rule even those who have sought to cast him from his throne is the power of infinite love, and that by giving himself in behalf of those who would cast him from his throne, he would lift up those who have fallen, and give them anew a place with him on his throne. And all this is set forth in the sanctuary question.
The sanctuary and its service, as set forth in the tabernacle among Israel, and later in the temple, is the letting down upon earth of the object-lesson which sets forth God's plan of government, and how he deals with those who have sought to dethrone him.
The Scripture makes this clear. As priest upon the throne, still king, and executing the office of priest, in dealing with sinners, he sets forth, in the provision of the sanctuary, the plan that he has devised from eternity for salvation from sin.
Now notice some of the lessons that come just from the leading events connected with this history of this sanctuary question. First, when he would set forth this object-lesson upon earth through his servant Moses, he made known his purpose to his people, because God's people are so intimately related with this question of the sanctuary that they co-operate with God in his work through Christ in the sanctuary. So that every step of the way the divine and the human co-operate; and God sent this word to his people, “Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” And in Exodus, chapters 25 to 31, God gave to Moses explicit instruction concerning the building of the sanctuary and the preparation for its services.
Moses was to make this known to the people, because the people had a part to act in this work. He made it known to the people, and the people acted their part in the work, and the sanctuary was built, and the service was established. Now that is the first marked development upon the earth in the revelation of the truth found in the services of the sanctuary. That service went on for centuries. The real import of it was lost sight of; it was perverted into mere form and ceremony, and yet it was God's established service.
But in due time, in the development of God's purpose, came that time when type met antitype, when everything was fulfilled, the great Sacrifice was offered, and the typical ministry ceased.
There is something in these different steps in the development of God's purpose of salvation from sin as set forth in the sanctuary and its services that makes a difference to the people of God, that they ought to know. It is God's purpose that they should know this, and it is necessary for them to know it, in order to co-operate intelligently with the development of God's purpose of salvation as found in this question. Therefore when this change was made, when the veil of the temple was rent, the typical service upon earth ceased, and the ministry in the holy place in the sanctuary in heaven began, it was necessary that the people should know concerning it. How did they find it out? Note some steps in the development of the purpose of God, and the revelation of his truth to that people.
First, John the Baptist came with his message to prepare the way of the Lord. Next, the Messiah himself was revealed; was crucified; raised from the dead; and ascended on high. Next came the day of Pentecost. Now these events have a relationship one to another. The message of John was to prepare the way for the coming Messiah. His message received would have prepared the people to receive him. The reception of the Messiah would have prepared them to understand his work and mission. That knowledge would have prepared the way for the blessing on the day of Pentecost.
On the other hand, their rejection of the Messiah when he was manifested shut away the light and the knowledge that would have enabled them to understand his work, his death, his resurrection, his ascension.
How were these successive steps in the development of the purpose of God revealed?—By the messages that God himself sent; and when on the day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost came upon them, their minds were enlightened concerning the purpose of God, and they saw, and Peter, as the spokesman, set forth, the fact that Jesus, the Messiah, the One who had been crucified, who had been raised from the dead, who had ascended on high, was now the high priest in the heavenly sanctuary; and it was because of his work as high priest in the heavenly sanctuary that they enjoyed the ministry of the blessing they had that day. And Peter made that clear, the Holy Ghost being interpreter; and you can see this by reading in the second chapter of the book of Acts.
The apostle first quotes from David this prophecy: “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.”
Peter saw that day what Paul, in his letter to the Hebrews, so distinctly stated: “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man;” and that was opened up to their minds that day by the Holy Spirit, and Peter, as spokesman, told them. They began on that day, as it were, a new epoch in the development of this gospel plan of salvation.