THE BURNING LAMP by Roderick S. Owen

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Feb 23, 1915

THE BURNING LAMP

By Roderick S. Owen

The Growth of the Christian—We Are to Develop and Advance—How the Work Is Accomplished

By Roderick S. Owen

This is the fifth of several short studies by Elder Owen on the fifteenth chapter of Genesis. Each study is complete in itself, and presents some part of the experience of Abraham that entered into the work which made him the mighty man of faith.

“AND it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.” Gen. 15: 17.

Abraham, having prepared his sacrifice, and having walked between the parts thereof, waited throughout the day for God to give some manifestation of His presence. The record tells us that “when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp,” “passed between those pieces.” These were symbols of the divine presence, giving Abraham a pledge of the covenant of liberty between God and man.

MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD’S WORKING

There must be some significance in this peculiar representation of God’s presence. Both the burning lamp and the smoking furnace must symbolize manifestations of God’s power and work in consummating this covenant with the children of Abraham. Let us consider first the burning lamp.

In the Bible, we find both the word and the Spirit of God spoken of as a lamp. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Ps. 119: 105. “There were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” Rev. 4: 5. Seven denotes fullness or completeness. Seven lamps, then, denote the full or complete work of the Holy Spirit. Hence we conclude that the burning lamp represented the work done for us and in us by the Spirit of God.

BORN THROUGH THE WORD

Jesus, in talking to Nicodemus, said, “Ye must be born again”; and, “Except a man be born from above,” “born of the Spirit,” “he cannot see the kingdom of God.” But Peter says of God’s children, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” 1 Peter 1: 23. Thus we find we are born of the Spirit through the Word; but

again we are told that “whatsoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” 1 John 5: 18.

The Scriptures plainly teach that there are steps by which that degree of perfection is reached, or steps we must take in becoming fully and completely the children of God. And in all these steps, we must be guided by the Spirit through the Word. Speaking of the Spirit, Jesus said: “When He is come, He will reprove [or convince] the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more.” John 16: 8-10.

HOW SIN IS SHOWN

Convince of sin! This He does through the law; for Paul says: “I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Rom. 7: 7. Brought thus face to face with the law, we find ourselves under condemnation. Under this conviction we are led to Calvary, where we find One who was willing to die in our stead, and who nailed all our sins to His cross. We are here convinced that we are sinners because we do not believe on Jesus, for all sin is but the outworking of a lack of confidence in God; and the revelation of the character of God in the death on Calvary, revealing the love of God to us, brings vividly and impressively before us the magnitude of our sin of unbelief.

When we contemplate the ascension of Christ to heaven, and the fact that He remains there in the very presence of the Father, we know that in Him is perfect righteousness; for no sin can dwell with God. Seeing in Him just what we need, even perfect righteousness, we grasp Him by faith as our substitute, and are justified from our past sins.

CONDEMNATION IS GONE

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Rom. 8: 1, 2. In this we have taken the first step in the covenant of freedom.

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Rom. 5: 1-5.

THE PROCESS OF DEVELOPMENT

When we have taken the first step, we find there lies before us a process of development. We are to grow up into Christ, our living head, in all things, until we reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We are to be overcomers. We are to go on to perfection. And this we will do by walking after the Spirit, and not after the flesh; for the flesh still seeks the paths of sin, but the Spirit the path of righteousness.

The Spirit uses the law in leading us to perfection; for “the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” Ps. 19: 7. So while we find our flesh drawing us still toward sin, we must reckon ourselves “dead indeed unto sin [transgression of the law], but alive unto God,” “and be not conformed to this world,” but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, that we may prove—demonstrate—“what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God,” by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, and making no “provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof”; and standing fast “in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,” we find ourselves walking in the steps of our father Abraham, and advancing in the covenant of liberty.

The Spirit imparts to us a knowledge of sin by the law, and then writes that same law in our hearts, thus bringing us to the place where we will delight to do His will. In completing the covenant of liberty, that law must be written in its entirety, just as it was before written on the two tables of stone. For of the new covenant, which is the covenant of liberty, we read: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, 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.” Jer. 31: 31-33.

THE FINISHED WORK

And that this work is to be done by the Spirit, is clearly set forth by the apostle Paul, who in writing to the Corinthians said, “For as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, . . . written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tables of stone, but on the fleshy tables of the heart.” When this is done, we are apostles or representatives of Christ; for of Him it is written, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My

heart.” Being like Him, we shall be able to see Him as He is. 1 John 3: 2. And in Zech. 3: 9 Christ is set forth as the stone placed before Joshua, that rock upon which we must all fall and be broken.

Thus if we place ourselves, without reserve, in Christ’s hands, He by the law of God, which is perfectly engraved in His heart, and by the Holy Spirit, which is upon Him, will search out every particle of our sin, and implant the law within our minds and hearts. Thus when, by the Spirit, we are led through justification by faith, and have mortified the deeds of the body, and have grown up into Christ, our living head, and have the law written in our hearts, and when Jesus, in the Judgment, shall have blotted out our sins, then the burning lamp shall have completed its work for us, and we shall fully stand in the covenant of liberty.