TEXT.— “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” 2 Cor. vi, 17, 18.
This scripture is of vital interest to the remnant people of God, as it proposes all they are now hoping and struggling for; viz., becoming children of the heavenly kingdom. This text naturally divides itself into two parts:
1. Present duty. II. The reward.
I. In the first we see three successive steps mentioned: 1. Come out from among them. 2. Be ye separate. 3. Touch not the unclean thing.
The most noticeable events in the history of the church of God in the old dispensation were their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, their trials and journeyings in the wilderness, and final entrance into the earthly Canaan; and the events most noticeable in the experience of the church in this dispensation, are their fitting up, passing through trials, and translation into the heavenly Canaan.
We think there are points of striking similarity between these two great events; and, as we are surely the people of whom they were the type, we do well to take heed, and notice briefly some of their experience in connection with ours, especially, as Paul says, “Now all these things happened unto them for types [margin], and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” 1 Cor. x, 11, 12.
We remark first, that the first verse of the text contains a general summing up of, or conclusion drawn from, verses 14 and 15 of the same chapter, in which the apostle warns his Corinthian brethren against marriage, or union in any form, with unbelievers; and as God was thus particular to have his people separate and holy in the apostle’s day, as well as in the times of ancient Israel, will he not be equally so with the remnant? He is a God that changes not. Mal. iii, 6. And now we will proceed in a more specific manner with the steps heretofore mentioned.
1. What is it to “come out from among them”? In this clause the Lord addresses his people. Now if we can ascertain to whom the “them” refers, it will enable us to understand, in a measure, from what they are to “come out.” The great Advent movement of the past has developed a people looking for the Son of Man from Heaven. What did they do? Came out of the fallen churches and the world by scores and hundreds, and united in a body in church capacity; and now through the third angel’s message, God is calling to honest souls, “Come out;” and in a little from this, in the latter rain, the cry will go in mighty power to Babylon, or these churches, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and receive not of her plagues.”
But this has, and will, cost persecution and a great mental struggle, even as Israel was troubled by Pharaoh in not letting them go. See Ex., chaps. vii–x. Shall any who hear this message and see this people, hesitate to join them? Had any refused to unite with the body of Israel in Egypt, what would have been their fate? They would have been destroyed by the plagues. What became of those who saw the truth in 1843–4, but would not unite with the body? They were left to make shipwreck of their faith, and be snared by Satan. So in the future, the seven last plagues will come upon all but the 144,000, who are one perfect body. May the Lord help all his children to have moral courage to unite with the body, and experience the blessings and union of church organization.
But by thus coming out, are God’s people perfected? No; like the trees of the forest cut down and drawn to the place of building, they need to be trimmed and hewed. We then proceed to the next step, and inquire,
2. What is it to be separate? Here a good many limbs are to be taken off, and much wisdom is needed in doing the work. In uniting with the body of God’s people—commandment-keepers—have we not brought from the world and churches many habits, customs, and ways of thinking, that God’s people should not have, and which will exclude us from among the “holy ones” in the kingdom? Some of these we will notice. As before remarked, we think Paul teaches that it is wrong for believers to marry unbelievers, as light can have no communion with darkness; for then both become darkness. And again, “What! know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall he be one flesh.” 1 Cor. vi, 16. What did God say to his ancient people, on this subject? “Neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods.” Deut. vii, 3, 4. “Else if ye do in anywise go back and cleave unto the remnant of these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides and thorns in your eyes until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you.” Joshua xxiii, 12, 13. Please read Neh. xiii, 23–27.
There is a custom of unbelievers’ going to law one with another. Paul says to believers: “But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers. Now, therefore, there is utterly a fault among you because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong and defraud, and that your brethren.” 1 Cor. vi, 6–8. And we think it advisable for us to heed the directions Paul gives, deviating only in cases of extreme necessity, with much wisdom.
Politics. In this we think those who love the coming and setting up of the everlasting kingdom will not have much interest nor duty to patronize secular newspapers, political gossip, or help place men in office, who in a little time will issue laws against these commandment-keepers. Rev. xiii, 15–17. Neither will God’s children find it consistent with duty to bear arms in the government. Our coming King said to his disciples, “Put up again thy sword into his place; for all they that take the sword, shall perish with the sword,” Matt. xxvi, 52; “My kingdom is not of this world, then would my servants fight, if my kingdom were of this world.” John xviii, 36.
Our Heavenly Father here gives us a privilege and responsibility of winning our friends to the truth, and not of their drawing us away from the truth, however minutely; and in all our intercourse, whether by writing or visiting, to use such opportunities; not to engage in neighborhood gossip and the pernicious practice of “taking tea,” so-called, of going so far toward their sympathy as to mention even a single fault or trial of our brethren and sisters; but to carry these latter to the Lord and to those only whom they concern. And right here how important the words, Remember Lot’s wife. Here Satan will use his most intricate and insinuating devices. And right here, too, Jesus says, “If any man love father, or mother, or houses, or lands, more than me, he is not worthy of me;” and he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven, the same is my father, mother, brother, and sister. And Paul gives some testimony relative to our company, in 1 Cor. v, 9–11. But we should embrace every occasion to speak and practice the truth, and, if possible, get such a hold of their interest and affections as to win them to serve the Lord.226
The society of God’s children will be dearer to us than all other. Consider our father Abraham leaving his home and kindred. Consider the children of Israel being separate in interest and business from all around them. Consider good, old Noah; and then those who “have their conversation in Heaven,” and are living soberly, righteously, godly, &c. Have we neighbors whom we think we ought to visit? It will not take many months to test them; and if there are then no signs of their obeying the truth, and we continue their company as intimate as ever, it would seem that we have other interest besides the truth, and place ourselves on dangerous ground.
We are now brought to the polishing of the sticks of timber, and thus preparing them to enter into the frame of the building; and this leads us to inquire.
3. What is it to “touch not the unclean”? The first verse of the next chapter, 2 Cor. vii, has an intimate connection with, and throws some light upon, this question: “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God;” and further, “I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Rom. xii, 1. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” 1 Cor. iii, 16, 17. Here, then, we find a cleansing of the body, or commencing to obey the laws of health, in order to have a place ready for God’s Spirit to dwell in. Is any such work as this going on among us? Yes; the health reform. Then, in walking out in all the light of this reform, we shall be cleansed and receive the finishing work. Well, says one, this don’t seem to me to have much to do with getting into the kingdom of God.
Listen to the holy apostle: “For this ye know that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Eph. v, 5. Here disobedience to the laws of health, including “secret sins,” which it is the province of the gift of prophecy to reprove and correct, is among the things that shut persons out of the kingdom. Was any such work as this given to ancient Israel? “Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.” Isa. lii, 11; also, Ex. xxix, 4; xv, 26; xvi, 4–35; Lev. xi–xv; Num. xi, 4–6; xv, 38–40; Deut. xxii, 5.
Now hear Paul speak of Israel, concerning this subject, in 1 Cor. x, 5–10: “But with many of them God was not well pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.”
This has a most forcible application to the “remnant.” The lesson we derive from it is, that we should not fall away from the health reform and other cleansing truths, as ancient Israel did from theirs. “Now all these things happened unto them for types; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Cor. x, 11. We cannot here speak in detail of the health reform, but only as a whole, showing its all-important work in making clean vessels to receive the “latter rain.” My brethren, are we temperate in all things? Temperance is one of the Christian graces. 2 Pet. i, 6. The truly temperate man is the only consistent man that lives.
At this point in the comparison, the sticks are ready to be placed in “the building, fully framed together, growing unto an holy temple in the Lord,” Eph. ii, 21, by the reception of the latter rain. We will now consider
II. The reward.
1. What is it? “I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you; and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” What a heart-cheering, soul-inspiring promise is this! to be received at the court of Heaven, and belong to the royal line; yes, even to become sons and daughters of the King of that heavenly clime; have all the love and protection that the great God of Heaven can bestow; receive all the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, referred to by Daniel, in chap. vii, 27, “And the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him;” which Isaiah more fully describes in chap. lxv, 17–25; also, to which Paul alludes, in Gal. iii, 29: “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise;” and which are more recently revived in the hearts of God’s children (Spir. Gifts, vol. i, pp. 209, 210), which we have not space to notice.
2. When will it be given? We begin to receive, when we commence to serve the Lord; and it comes more fully and freely as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, enabling us to cry, “Abba Father,” and to come boldly to the throne of grace and cast all our burdens upon our Father; and it is more fully given when “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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thess. iv, 16–18. Yes; deep comfort do these words afford to those striving to become heirs of Heaven.
My brethren, the remnant of the Israel of God, expecting his Son from Heaven and an entrance through the gates of massive pearl, are you weary? Anew, your journey pursue. Does the way seem rough? “It cannot be long; I’ll smooth it with hope, and I’ll cheer it with song.”
My whole being flows in gratitude to God for the privilege of having a place to work and to suffer in these things, so as to receive the “more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Shall not the heavenly inheritance make us content to be poor in this world, if rich in faith? Shall not the lovely society of the whole family in Heaven induce us to be amiable and truly polite to our companions, our children, our brethren, and all around us? Shall not the ceaseless round of worship in Heaven incite us to be punctual in secret prayer, to maintain the family altar all the time, and to attend public worship? Shall not the perfect obedience of every created being in Heaven to law, induce us to be “willing, and obedient” to law, both physical and moral; and so we become sons and daughters of the Lord, and have “an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” in obedience to coming out, being separate, and being clean, assisted by the Spirit and availing blood of Jesus. Amen.
