THE need of a reformation in the churches of to-day has abundantly been shown in past articles. In fact, the divisions of Christendom, the diversity of belief (or unbelief), often found among persons of the same denomination, the confusion which exists in the churches because of such division, are all obvious to careful observers. Upon not less than a half score of important doctrines of the word of God is there division of belief in the Christian world to-day. God calls this condition "Babylon," the meaning of which is "confusion." But it is not God's wish that this condition of confusion and division should ever remain; for "God is not the author of confusion." Rather, he is the great Physician, who forgiveth all iniquities, who healeth all diseases, by the virtue of the stripes of Jesus Christ. Israel of old, backslidden, idolatrous, divided, looked to her priests and false prophets for healing; but the testimony of the Lord concerning their work is, "They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace."
God Is the Healer.
The only healer of these divisions and sins of the Christian church is God. He declares, "I am the Lord that healeth thee." But the Lord heals on the condition that the backslidden and divided church return to him. "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings."
Therefore, just as God in his love and mercy called after backslidden Israel in the past, so he calls after backslidden and divided Israel to-day. Just the same as "he sent his word, and healed them" when they returned to him, so he sends his word to heal in this dispensation all who will come to him. All through the early apostasy God's faithful ministers pointed to the great Physician who was able to heal the diseases which the incoming corruptions had caused. When the church had reached the zenith of its apostasy, God sent his word by the Reformers to heal Babylon the great, but she would not be706healed. Out of her communion, however, noble souls came forth, who carried forward the work of bearing the healing word to those sick in sin. The Reformation churches ran well for a little way, and then crystallized into creeds the mixture of truth and error held by prominent Reformers, and the work stopped. God's word is "living, and active," but man's creeds are cold and dead, and living souls cannot grow spiritually by a dead creed. Other reformers brought out of these creed-bound organizations still other churches, which were soon bound by creeds, the product of men's interpretation of the word.
And now, that God might heal all the backslidings and divisions, he sends to the divided Babylonian church his last
MESSAGE OF HEALING.
"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come; and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."
Note briefly the following points:—
1. The Gospel the Power of God.
The message is the gospel, the everlasting gospel of the everlasting covenant through Jesus Christ. That is, it is the same gospel which has been preached to fallen man all through the ages past. It was preached to Abraham; it was preached to the children of Israel; it was preached by Christ and his apostles, and the same gospel of the kingdom is sent in mighty power to every nation, tongue, and people before Christ comes.
This gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. It is the tidings of salvation through Jesus Christ, the only name under heaven whereby man may be saved.
This gospel is also the word of God. This may be shown in various ways. The apostles and ministers of Christ are commanded to "preach the gospel." They are also commanded to "preach the word." And as this was the sum of their duty in each case, it follows that the preaching of the word and gospel is one and the same thing. Again, we are told in Rom. 1:16 that the gospel is "the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth;" but we are also told in Acts 20:32 that the word of God's grace is able to build us up, and to give us "an inheritance among all them that are sanctified." This is equivalent to an expression in 2 Tim. 3:15, that the Scriptures are able to make us "wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." And the next two verses declare that the Scriptures (the Old Testament must necessarily have been included) are profitable for all things needed in the work of the man of God, in fact, "thoroughly furnish" him "unto all good works."
There is no other conclusion, therefore, to which we can come than that the word of God, the Scriptures of truth, and the gospel of God's grace, are all one and the same thing.
Further, the preaching of this word is the preaching of Christ. Paul, who tells the minister of God to "preach the word," who declares that "whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope," also tells us that "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." But Paul in preaching Christ preached the whole word of God, its precepts, promises, warnings, admonitions, prophecies, and psalms. And in preaching all these he preached Christ, for through Christ came all the word of God; and the word of inspiration is the manifestation in living language to the believer, of Christ the wisdom of God and the power of God. The apostle clearly shows them all to be the same by using the various terms to express the same work. He declares that he is a "minister" of "the gospel," a "minister" "fully to preach the word of God," that this word and gospel is "the mystery" of God, "which is Christ in you the hope of glory." This gospel message is, therefore, preaching the truth of God, or the word of God, as it is in Christ Jesus, for the healing of his people.
2. The Fear of God.
The burden of this message is, "Fear God and give glory to him." But this includes the entire gospel. "The fear of the Lord is, the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do his commandments." This fear, or reverence, is characteristic of meekness and humility, and is always connected with willing submission and obedience to God, as shown in the above quotations. Again we read: "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil [or to obey God] is understanding." That the fear of God implies obedience to his holy law is expressly declared: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment." This is just what is proclaimed in the message we have under consideration, with this exception, the one refers to a judgment in the future, the other to one impending.
But how the fear of God sinks into insignificance all that is great in men! How it turns the souls which possess it from the traditions and precepts of men to the truth and commandments of God! It is the very element on which the characters of all God's holy witnesses in all the ages of the past have been based. And the message is sent from God for the very purpose of turning men from the fear and reverence of men, and all that is of man, to the fear of God, the Arbiter of our destinies.
3. "Give Glory to Him."
The message implies that those to whom it is given are giving glory to other than God. God's glory is his character, or goodness.
When Moses said to the Lord, "I beseech thee, show me thy glory," the Lord said, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee." In the fulfillment of this promise we read: "And the Lord descended, . . . and proclaimed the name of the Lord, . . . The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." This is God's character; this is his name—Jehovah—expressive of that character, that righteousness, that goodness, that love. God's righteousness is expressed in his holy law, the reflect of his character. But man, being a sinner, cannot obtain righteousness by the law. He must be changed by creative power before he can obey the righteous law of God. It is God's character to do this; and this is his glory.
Not only is God's character his glory, but it is the glory of his people through the gospel. Man is by nature a sinner. Even his righteousness fall so far short that they are counted as "filthy rags." His only hope is in the righteousness of God by faith in Christ, to which the law bears witness. Therefore, when the sinner by faith in Christ comes to God, God forgives his sins, gives him a new heart, and names His name upon him. What God names is made what he names it. So when he names a man his child, that makes the man his child in character—righteous, or holy, even as He is holy, not through any power of man, but by the power of the word of the gospel, through the merits of the fullness of Christ. Thus Christ becomes our "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; that . . . he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord," in whom alone is he "complete." Thus God names his name, his character, upon us, creates us anew in Christ Jesus, and to him alone belongs all the glory. Therefore "give glory to him;" "give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name."
But to render unto the Lord the glory due is to submit to his will, his character, his righteousness. This is faith, to submit to do all that the Lord commands us. He will then create us by the power of his word "unto good works," and then there will be fulfilled "the righteousness of the law" in those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Having the Spirit of Christ, we will obey God's law, even as Christ did, giving glory and honor to God.
To "fear God and give glory to him" is therefore to turn from all fear of man, from all traditions and precepts and theories and creeds of men, to the word of God and the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. But this is just what the Christian churches of to-day are not doing. When the followers of Luther, fearing to trust the naked word of God as standard and his Spirit as guide, framed Luther's belief into a creed, and adopted it as their standard instead of the free and living word of God,707they gave glory to Luther above the word of God. When the Calvinists did the same with respect to Calvin, they glorified Calvin. When the Methodists did the same with respect to the teachings of Wesley, they glorified him. And so with all denominations which have formed creeds; they have rendered glory unto man or men who made the creed rather than unto God. This may have been unwittingly done, but that does not alter the fact that it has just as truly been done. From this fear of human limitations, this glorification of the human and finite, Christ calls the church by his living message, "Fear God and give glory to him."
4. "Worship Him."
We worship whom we serve. The highest worship is implicit obedience. The highest honor the child can render the parent is to obey. The best worship which man can offer God is to render willing and implicit obedience to God's holy will as expressed in his inspired word. Says Jesus, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." When Satan solicited the worship of Christ, he replied, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." The truest worship is the most faithful service according to orders. God's orders are in his holy law. "Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." James in speaking of this same royal law said: "So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty."
"Worship Him." Whom?—"Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Wherever in Scripture the true God and false are contrasted the characteristic of the true God is his creative power, the God that made the heaven and the earth. God has "made his wonderful works [of his creative power] to be remembered," and the memorial of his mighty power to create, and the sign of his same mighty power to redeem, to recreate, and sanctify is his holy Sabbath, set forth in the fourth commandment of his holy law. The Lord says:—
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt 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."
"And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." "I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them."
The message of Rev. 14:6, 7, therefore, not only calls the attention of a backslidden and divided church to God's law as revealed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he calls them to obedience to a special part of that law, the fourth commandment, which has been for so many centuries trodden down by "the man of sin."
Of course this is contrary to the common practice of men, contrary to the traditions received from an apostate church, contrary to the observance of a day revered by many, not because taught in God's word, but because of associations, ignorantly revered and observed, supposing it to be commanded of God. Neither does God condemn. He knows the church is yet in the wilderness of error and the midst of confusion. His call is to come out into the clear light of his word, into the heaven-lighted highway cast up for the ransomed of the Lord to walk in. And therefore there has been ringing out to the world for more than twoscore years the message of God's gospel, calling men back to the observance of the Sabbath kept by Christ and all his prophets and apostles.
But a further consideration of this will have to be deferred till our next issue.