Who Is the Messenger of the Covenant
ARE MR. DOWIE'S CLAIMS TRUE?—NO. 2.
Who Is the Messenger of the Covenant.
LAST week we printed the following from Mr. Dowie's paper, Leaves [not Laws] of Healing, of June 8:— For more than two years we have taken the responsibility before the church and the world of being the Messenger of the Covenant. . . . The Scriptural and logical issue of our action was the declaration as Elijah the Restorer, which we made in the Chicago Auditorium before about seven thousand persons last Lord's day afternoon. The Messenger of the Covenant, Jesus tells us, was John the Baptist. John the Baptist, Jesus said, was Elijah. . . . Malachi and Jesus say that the Messenger of the Covenant and Elijah must come again. . . . If we are the Messenger of the Covenant, we must also be Elijah the Restorer. . . . God does not rebuke us now in saying that we are Elijah the Restorer. Both offices center in one man. . . . The preparation of God's people for Christ's coming can only be made through Elijah, since God has so decreed it, and through no other person. The “restoration of all things” was to be accompanied by the prophet of whom God spake to Moses in Deut. 18:15–22. . . . The Messenger of the Covenant, and Elijah the Restorer, and that prophet of whom Moses spake, are all one and the same person. The declaration that we are that person is either . . . a great blasphemy, or a tremendous fact of the utmost importance to the whole world. Which is it? The above raises the following questions, which we asked last week:— - Who is the Elijah that is to come? and how is he to come?
- Who is the Messenger of the Covenant?
- Who is that Prophet like unto Moses?
- What does restoration of all things include?
- What are the Biblical credentials?
The first of these was answered; and it was clearly shown, we think, that while Elijah was in some respects the type of John the Baptist, it took both Elijah and John the Baptist fully to typify God's messenger people (not some person) in the last days, those who should herald Christ's coming; that the thing typified was character and power, not person; and that as both Elijah and John were archetypes of God's people, so were Ahab and Herod, Jezebel and Herodias, archetypes of classes which the people of God would have to meet. Therefore Mr. Dowie or any other man is not Elijah. In fact, Elijah has passed into the heavens. Now, who is the messenger of the covenant?
Mr. Dowie says that Jesus says the messenger of the covenant was John the Baptist. But Jesus says nothing of the kind. Every reference of Jesus to John the Baptist in respect to John's fulfilment of prophecy is given in Matt. 11:10; Mark 1:2, and Luke 7:27. All are substantially the same; we quote from Luke: “This is he, of whom it is ‘written, Behold, I send My messenger before Thy ‘face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee.” Where is this written?—In Mal. 3:1, as follows: “Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall ‘prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, whom ye ‘seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the ‘Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in: ‘behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.” It will be evident to all that two persons are referred to in the above prophecy: (1) ‘My messenger,’ whom Jesus declares to be John the Baptist; and (2) ‘the Lord, whom ye seek, . . . even ‘the Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in.’ The “Messenger of the Covenant” is, therefore, ‘the Lord whom ye seek.’ But Was Jesus the Messenger of the Covenant?
He was. He was “the Angel [or Messenger, for ‘angel means messenger] of Jehovah,” who appeared to Abraham as the chief of three angels, He, the Chief, remaining with Abraham, and the two visiting Lot (Gen. 18:1, 2, 17; 19:1); the Angel by whom the covenant was confirmed (22:15–18); the Angel who wrestled with Jacob, and who blessed the patriarch (32:24–30); the Angel Jehovah who appeared to Moses in the bush (Ex. 3:2–6); the “Angel of God's presence,” in whom is God's name, who led Israel through the wilderness (Ex. 23:20–23; 33:14; Isa. 63:9); God's mighty Messenger and Representative to this world, our Lord Jesus Christ. The covenant is the covenant sworn to Abraham and renewed to David as an “everlasting covenant” (Ps. 105:8–10; 2 Sam. 23:5; Isa. 55:3); the “new covenant” of Jeremiah, because later confirmed by the teaching of Jesus, and by His blood upon the7cross (Jer. 31:31–34; Dan. 9:27; Heb. 13:20); of which Jesus is the “Surety” and the Mediator on behalf of sinful man (Heb. 7:22; 8:6–12); the covenant of peace, which will sometime soon, when Christ comes, be sealed with all His people (Eze. 37:26; Isa. 54:10); it is the covenant of which Christ Jesus alone could be the Messenger, because He is the Mediator, the Sealer, the Bond, the center and circumference, the faithful and true Witness, showing in His own character what the covenant will accomplish in all who will yield to its wonderfully effective provisions. It is for that reason that He Himself is called the Covenant. Isa. 42:6; 49:8. The Messenger of the Covenant is therefore our Lord Jesus Christ, and not Dr. John Alexander Dowie. Whether his claim in this respect is “a tremendous fact” or “a great blasphemy” let the reader judge. “Who is That Prophet Like unto Moses?” will be considered in our next.