Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 11, 1903
“THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST.”
XIII. The Seven-Sealed Book.
Chapter Five.
CHAPTERS four, five, and six are records of one vision, in three distinct parts, which men have divided into three chapters. Read the chapter through as a whole; note the book, the intense interest in its contents, what its opening cost, and the ascriptions and songs of praise and triumph. Its treasures will be better unfolded as we question the text.
What did John see on the right hand of the One on the throne?
“And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back close sealed with seven seals.”¹ Verse 1.
What challenge did he hear?
“And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?”² Verse 2.
What was the answer to this challenge?
“And no one in the heaven, or on the earth, was able to open the book, or to look thereon.”³ Verse 3.
How did this result affect John?
“And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look thereon.”⁴ Verse 4.
What comfort did he receive?
“One of the elders saith unto me, Weep not; behold, the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath overcome to open the book and the seven seals thereof.” Verse 5.
What did the prophet then see?
“I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as tho it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.”⁵ Verse 6.
What did the Lamb do?
“And He came, and He taketh it out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne.”⁶ Verse 7.
How did His work affect the living creatures and elders? “And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” Verse 8.
What new song do they sing?
“Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; For Thou wast slain,
And didst purchase unto God with Thy blood
Men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,
And madest them to be unto our God
A kingdom and priests;
And they reign upon the earth.”⁷ Verses 9, 10.
What did John then see?
“And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.”⁸ Verse 11.
What was the angels’ song? “Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive the
Power,
and Riches,
and Wisdom,
and Might,
and Honor,
and Glory,
and Blessing.”
What was the grand climax of the Lamb’s sacrifice?
“And every created thing which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard I saying,
Unto Him that sitteth on the throne,
And unto the Lamb,
Be the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the dominion,
Unto the ages of the ages.”⁹ Verse 13.
What response was heard to this?
“And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped.”¹⁰ Verse 14.
Comment and Exposition.
1. The Book.—He who “sat on the throne,” whose kingdom rules over all, is “the Father,” “the Lord God,” “the Almighty” (Rev. 1:6, 8). The book, the scroll, is not within His closed hand, but as in the margin, the literal Greek, “on the right hand,” open, as tho held out freely to all. “Written within and on the back close sealed with seven seals,” is generally understood to mean written on both sides. But rather was it not written within, and on the back close sealed with seven seals? Grotius renders, “written within; sealed without.” Dr. Clarke and others suggest that on the back were the titles of what was written within with the seals. We have given a crude illustration of how it might have been that John saw all the seals at one time. The thought rather than the actual shape of the book or scroll is what the illustration on the next page is designed to make plain.
2. The Challenge.—The importance of the2 (82)contents of the book is indicated by the challenge to all the universe, the fact that no one could be found, and the sorrow of hopeless humanity as represented by John. Note the character required. The angel does not ask who is wise enough to open the book, who is strong enough, who is rich enough, but who is worthy. God’s chambers of mysteries are not opened by the wheat of wisdom, the barley of riches, or the rye of power. The sesame which unlocks His infinite treasures is that of worthiness, righteousness, holiness. “The secret of Jehovah is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant.” And the fear of Jehovah is to depart from evil, or to do righteousness. Only the heart in harmony with God can learn His secrets.
3. None Worthy.—There was no one “able” in heaven or in earth, which means there was no one worthy. Only holy hands could break its seals, only holy eyes could read its contents. God is willing that it shall be done; He holds it free to the universe, but none can take it.
4. Why Weep?—“I wept much,” says John. Why? Surely it was not because one little line of prophecy might be hidden from the world, that John wept. Others of equal importance had been given in the past. Neither did he weep for himself alone. He represented a class of God’s creatures held back, separated by their unworthiness, from the Father’s will which He longed to reveal, and the problem to all human seeing could not be solved.
5. One Found.—God chooses a white-robed one to bear His message to John: “Weep not: behold the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah hath overcome.” It cost conflict, it cost suffering, it cost death to overcome, to prevail, to win the worthiness, to open the book. It cost the emptying of self, the hunger and thirst, the “prayers and supplications,” the “strong crying and tears,” the bloody sweat, the darkness of Calvary, the death of the cross. But He overcame, and overcame by what He suffered. John was told to behold a Lion, and he looked and beheld a “Lamb,” nay more, One wounded and slain. Not by might nor army did the Lion win, not by the fierceness and cruelty of the king of beasts, not by crushing and mangling His foes; but by the meekness and gentleness of the lamb. Yet in that Lamb dwelt all the fulness of the elements of riches and power, represented by the seven horns; and all the fulness of knowledge and wisdom, represented by the seven eyes. Universal was the effect of His suffering and victory; the throne, the elders, the four living ones, representative of all in heaven and earth, are partakers of the victory; He was slain, and stood a conqueror in the presence of them all.
6. What Did the Book Contain?—The gift of the God of all love is to be opened to a needy world. What did it contain?—The plan of redemption, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glad tidings of a purchased pardon full and free, the power of God unto salvation, the solution of the great problem that the entrance of sin had brought into the universe, the fact of the promises of God, the vindication and revelation of God’s character. Through all the centuries Satan has belied and maligned the character of God. He has represented Him as cruel, malignant, arbitrary, hateful. In other words, Satan has invested God, in his representation of Him to men, with his own malignant character. Inducing God’s mortal children to sin, he has gloated over his triumph, and thrown back their defeat upon God. Sin has locked them in Satan’s prison house of the grave, and the few occasions on which men have been released from its bonds by God’s goodness and power, through satanic insinuation have been largely regarded as myths. True, God had promised all fulness to His children, but the fulness was by Satan denied; and in proof of his denial he could point to the closed graves and the earth growing ever more and more sin-burdened. A few believed and hoped against what seemed overwhelming darkness and despair.
“But when the fulness of the time came God sent forth His Son.” The light of the world came and irradiated all its dark places. What else mean all these scriptures?
“The people that sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them that sat in the region and shadow of death, to them did light spring up.” Matt. 4:16.
“I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.” Matt. 13:34.
“Now to Him that is able to establish you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal, but now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known unto all the nations unto obedience of faith.” Rom. 16:25, 26.
“Which [the mystery of the Gospel] in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men as it hath now been revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit.” Eph. 3:5.
“The mystery which hath been hid from the ages and from the generations; but now hath it been manifested to His saints, to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Col. 1:26, 27.
That mystery, so long hidden in its fulness, was revealed to the world in God “manifest in the flesh” of men in Jesus Christ, a promise and pledge to all believers of the surety of salvation in Him. That book held on the hand of the Most High, and which the Lion-Lamb suffered, died, and overcame to open, is the book of God’s Gospel in Jesus Christ.
7. The Ascription of Praise.—“Harps” are symbols of praise to God, and, skilfully played, are full of sweetness and melody. “Incense” represents the grace and virtue of our God in Christ Jesus which make the prayers acceptable. Man can plead no promise by virtue of his worth, but by virtue of his need. The worthiness, the fragrance, the acceptableness, is furnished by the Overcomer. The proof of His worthiness is demonstrated by the fulness of the sacrifice—“Thou wast slain.” The Son of God became nothing that we might inherit everything. Because of the absolute self-effacement, God could thus use Him. Phil. 2:5–10. Christ has purchased all by His blood, His life, but all will not accept His salvation. But His love will be demonstrated in redeemed men from every tribe, and land, and tongue. Neither will men have to wait till the glorious consummation to be kings and priests; they may reign over sin, and minister of the gifts of God’s grace whatever their condition in life.
8. The Angels.—What a mighty host of glad servants has our God. 10,000 × 10,000 = 100,000,000. But this does not exhaust them; there are thousands upon thousands more. Truly, they are an “innumerable company.” Heb. 12:22. These are ministers to and with God’s people of His manifold grace. Heb. 1:14. Under all Satan’s master misrepresentations they have been loyal, longing to know the outcome. They have believed in their Prince, Michael the Archangel. They almost despaired when He hung upon the cross, and themselves silent witnesses of His agony, must leave Him to bear it alone, while Satan exulted in hellish glee. Now they see the Conqueror; no wonder that they offer their sevenfold ascription of praise which makes heaven’s arches ring.
9. The Grand Climax.—Like the prophecies frequently, the grand climax is anticipated, the result of His sacrifice and victory, of what all God’s creation shall be when Christ’s work is finished. Sin is utterly banished; all who have finally chosen it have perished with it, its effects have been forever obliterated, and all creation joins in one great diapason chorus to God and the Lamb.
10. “Amen.”—The response of the four living creatures well represents the satisfaction which will be felt by all creation, now represented as groaning and travailing in pain. God’s agencies among the nations of earth, bringing order out of confusion, shedding light in the darkness, respond “Amen” to the anticipated hymn of praise; and His redeemed ministers respond in grateful worship too deep for mortals to appreciate.
SINGING FROM THE HEART.
By Edison Driver
One evening last fall as twilight deepened over a lakeside summer resort, there rang out on the clear night air the familiar strain,—
“Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly.”
Instantly a gay crowd of men and women on the veranda hushed their noisy chattering, and listened. They had heard the sweet voice often before. They knew the singer was only a poor, untrained fisherman’s girl, but what of that! There was something so tender and yearning in her voice that it compelled their silence and reverence, and even their tears. It was singing from the heart.
But scarcely were the last words sung when a famous singer in a pleasure boat on the lake took up the same hymn and sent its familiar lines floating shoreward. They on the veranda listened a moment to the sweet, bell-like voice, then shook their heads in sad disapproval. She might be a gifted singer, some one said, but the power to render truly that divinest hymn of trust did not lie in her proud and self-sufficient heart.
“From the heart” is the secret of every great song and the way of every great singer. We can not learn too soon that, no matter what our words may be, it is still the voice and tone of the inner life which weighs most in the field of our influence. The voice of the heart can touch other hearts, and tell them things their proud, vain minds will not hear. O,3singer and speaker, to-day tune thy heart to the Infinite, and let it teach men of thy God.
Fresno, Cal. EDISON DRIVER.
“CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.”
By J. O. Beard
V. Disease, Healing, and Excuses for Failures.
“But does not Christian Science heal the sick?” That is the question that is usually asked when any one begins to expose the weaknesses and failures of that system. Mrs. Eddy takes the position that none of the religious denominations recognize healing in answer to prayer, and that her system is the only one advocating it. She says, “Popular religion denies that Christ’s religion has exercised any healing power since the first century” (page 301), and “the Christian opponents of Christian Science neither give nor offer any proofs that their Master’s religion can heal the sick” (page 300). These, and many other statements, show that healing the sick is Mrs. Eddy’s great test of the genuineness of any religious system. But if her claims of healing were true, that would not of itself be a sufficient reason for accepting her teachings. The Bible warns us not to follow a false teacher, even tho the sign of wonder given by the teacher does come to pass. Deut. 13:1–3. It tells us not to believe every spirit, but to try them, and see whether they are from God or not. 1 John 4:1. That is what we have been doing, using God’s Word as the measuring rod (Isa. 8:20), and have found this system to be false.
But her sweeping and exclusive claims of healing are denied for the following reasons:—
First, many Christians believe in the healing of disease in answer to prayer; and the instruction in James 5:14, 15 has often been carried out. But the method of healing practised by Mrs. Eddy’s followers is not the method of Christ and His disciples. The latter spoke a word, and the work was done. Sometimes they laid their hands on the sick, and sometimes not; but the work was done at once. But these would-be scientists usually drag along for a weary while. They do not say, “Jesus Christ maketh thee whole” (Acts 9:34), nor, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6); but they carefully explain to the patient that he is suffering from an illusion; that “man is never sick; for mind is not sick, and matter can not be” (page 392); that “sickness is an illusion” (page 489); for “what is termed disease does not exist” (page 81); and that man must “mentally contradict every complaint from the body” (page 390); and “when the first symptoms of disease appear, dispute the testimony of the senses” (page 389); for “your decisions will master you, whichever direction they take” (page 391).
Second, the writer’s observation, with that of4many others, has forced the conclusion that these claims of healing will not bear a satisfactory investigation. How many times have cases been reported of persons suffering from some simple disease that would readily yield to treatment or even to good nursing; but because of the neglect occasioned by following this delusive teaching, the result has been fatal. A friend of the writer told of a man who was caught out in the rain. He went home, and being tired and chilly, he lay down on the floor in his wet clothing. A good sweat, followed by a cold-water or oil rub, would have enabled him to go about his work in a day or two. But the cold rapidly grew worse. He would not go to bed nor remove his clothing, insisted that nothing was the matter with him; and died, a victim of his own stubbornness. Of course, in such a case, these would-be scientists claim that Mrs. Eddy’s theory was not properly applied; for they assert that there is never a failure when her plan is rightly followed. As the treatment is purely mental, and they do not even talk about it, this furnishes a very convenient refuge; for, in case of failure, it is easy to say the method was not properly applied, or it was not carried out.
But they have another wonderful excuse for failures, which, for want of a better name, may be called “the general mind.” She states it thus: “If a dose of poison is swallowed through mistake, and the patient dies, even tho physician and patient are expecting favorable results, does belief, you ask, cause this death? Even so, and as directly as if the poison had been intentionally taken.” Page 70. She explains that while a few believe the dose to be harmless, the vast majority, “tho they know nothing of this particular case,” believe the drug to be poisonous, and therefore it causes death. But the vast majority of the people are not thinking of this drug, nor of any other one particular thing. The only way that this idea of a general mind could be true would be for mind to be a sort of loose intelligence floating around like the air, yet controlling us so that we can scarcely shape an opinion for ourselves. And if we do succeed in forming an opinion, this floating intelligence domineers over us, and refuses to let us carry it out. This is the silliest of nonsense. One can not help asking, If there is such a general mind controlling everything, how does it happen that drugs, in which almost everybody has implicit confidence, do not cure every disease? and how was it possible for Mrs. Eddy ever to cure a single case, or to get the slightest foothold for her philosophy?
A third reason for denying the exclusiveness of Mrs. Eddy’s claims is that there are other systems that make the same claims in the healing of disease. Of course she denounces their methods as false, unscientific, etc.; but they also object to her, and their reports read about like those of her followers. A very able physician has said, and others agree with him, that a large percentage of the diseases of the world, and diseases of almost every class, exist only in the mind. These they can and often do relieve. Then there are many conditions of disease that presently disappear if they are let alone, and they get credit for curing many of these also.
Mrs. Eddy cites many cases to show that disease is an illusion of the mind, and that mind may control matter, or that matter does not exist. But her proof is insufficient. To prove that twenty people, scattered here and there, were not sick when they thought they were, does not prove that twenty, fifty, or a hundred others who were sick at the same time, were also deluded. She tells of a criminal who was told he was to be bled to death, and died from the belief that it was his life-blood running down over his arm, when it was only a little stream of warm water. But the fact that a man died because he thought he was bleeding to death, does not prove that a man could not bleed to death, merely because he might insanely convince himself that the blood pouring out of his veins was no part of his life. To prove one case to be false does not prove another not to be genuine.
But all her theories do not account for the catching of contagious diseases when no exposure is suspected, or not catching them when exposure is known and the disease expected, or for disease proving to be one thing, when every mind in any way concerned insists that it is something else, and for many other questions that arise. And the weakness of the excuses for failing to heal are a confession of the weakness of the entire system.
It is a sad fact that Christians have not lived up to their privileges, not only in the healing of disease by faith, but in many other things as well. But that does not prove that they are on the wrong track, even tho they may have so far forgotten their privilege as to deny its existence. The Hebrews murmured and failed, while wandering in the wilderness, until God told them they should never enter Canaan. Num. 14:26–38. But they were on the right road all the time; and after the complainers were dead, He led their children over into the promised land.
On the other hand, miracle-working is no proof of connection with God. Of some of the miracle-workers of these last days the Lord says, “They are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, . . . to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Rev. 16:14. And of the master of these false workers He says, “He doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do.” Rev. 13:13, 14. It is truly necessary to prove all things, but to hold fast only that which is good.
In the concluding article we will consider the speculative spirit and some other points.
J. O. BEARD.
“ACQUAINT NOW THYSELF WITH HIM.”
By Ellen G. White
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
I WILL give them an heart to know Me, that I am the Lord.” “Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from His mouth, and lay up His words in thine heart.”
From the beginning it has been Satan’s studied plan to cause men to forget God, that he might secure them to himself. Therefore he has sought to misrepresent the character of God, to lead men to cherish a false conception of Him. The Creator has been presented to their minds as clothed with the attributes of the prince of evil himself,—as arbitrary, severe, and unforgiving,—that He might be feared, shunned, and even hated by men. Satan has striven so to confuse the minds of those whom he has deceived, that they would put God out of their thoughts. He would then obliterate the divine image in man, and impress upon the soul his own likeness; he would imbue men with his own spirit, and make them captives according to his will.
At times, Satan’s contest for the control of the human family has appeared to be crowned with success. During the ages preceding the first advent of Christ, the world seemed to be almost wholly under the sway of the prince of darkness. Even the covenant people, whom God had chosen to preserve in the world the knowledge of Himself, had so far departed from Him that they had lost all true conception of His character.
Christ came to reveal God to the world as a God of love, a God of mercy, tenderness, and compassion. By the world’s Redeemer the thick darkness with which Satan had enshrouded the throne of the Deity was swept away, and the Father was again manifest to men as the Light of life.
It was the pitiable condition of the fallen race that led Christ to give His life for their redemption. And what a life of humiliation and suffering was His! Not in His glory, heralded by the heavenly host, did He come to this world. Born of humble parentage, and brought up in obscurity at Nazareth, a small town of Galilee, He began His work in poverty and without worldly rank. That He might stand at the head of humanity, He took upon Himself our nature. With His human arm He encircled the human race, while with His divine arm He grasped the throne of the Infinite.
Christ is saddened by the sight of men so absorbed in worldly cares and business perplexities that they have no time to become acquainted with God. To them heaven is a strange place; for they have lost it out of their reckoning. Not familiar with heavenly things, they tire of hearing about them. They dislike to have their minds disturbed in regard to their need of salvation. But the Lord desires to disturb their minds, that they may become acquainted with Him in time to accept His offer of salvation. Soon, very soon, whether they desire it or not, they will all know Him. The angel of mercy is now folding her wings, almost ready to depart.
To eclipse the beauty and loveliness of the Prince of Light, Satan seeks to engross the minds of men with exciting games and other worldly pleasures. He endeavors so to occupy the attention with trivialities that no time will be taken to think of Jesus. Even after the most solemn presentation of the Word of God, the enemy will, if possible, destroy the impressions made by the Holy Spirit.
In the books of heaven are accurately recorded the sneers and the trivial remarks of sinners who pay no heed to the call of mercy made, as Christ is presented to them by His ministering servants. As the artist takes on the polished glass a true picture of the human face, so the angels of God daily place upon the books of heaven an exact representation of the character of every human being.
Dear reader, are you of the number who slight the instruction and warnings of the Word of God? Do you despise the great salvation proffered you? Are you willing that God and the Saviour who died for you shall say: “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all My counsel, and would none of My reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me; for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord; they would none of My counsel; they despised all My reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.”
The Lord is coming. If He were to come to-day, would you be ready to meet Him? Have you made your peace with Him? Do you desire to be sent away from God’s presence to share in the humiliation and punishment of Satan and his angels? If, during your lifetime, you robbed God of the service that He has purchased with His own blood, if you spend your time in idle talk and foolish amusement, you will lose heaven. Can you afford to barter away for worldly pleasure the gift of eternal life?
My brother, my sister, to-day the Spirit invites you to come to Jesus. “Look unto Me, and be ye saved,” is God’s gracious invitation. Will you not choose life, eternal life?
Those who are saved must follow the same road over which Christ journeyed. He says, “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” The character is to be formed according to the Christ-likeness.
In the Word the Saviour is revealed in all His loveliness. In the Bible, filled with assurances of what God will do for those who come into right relation to Him, there is comfort and consolation for every soul. How can any one, with the privilege of studying the Scriptures, lose his interest in heavenly things, and find pleasure in the amusements and enchantments of this world?
We are to commune with the One who gives us life, the One who keeps the heart in motion and the pulse beating. To every member of His great family here below God is ever giving the breath of life. And He has given His Son as a propitiation for sin, in order that we might stand on vantage ground with God. He deserves our sincere reverence, our earnest devotion. When we consider what He has done for us, how can we help loving Him?
To every sinner with whom we come in contact we are to tell what infinite pains Heaven has taken to enable us to attain to a knowledge of God. We are to show that we are amenable to the One higher than any human being; that to God we must render an account for the deeds done in the body; that, notwithstanding His great love for us, He can not take us to heaven as unrepentant sinners.
The day will come when the awful denunciation of God’s wrath will be uttered against those who have persisted in their disloyalty to Him. The day will come when He must speak and do terrible things in righteousness against the transgressors of His law. But you need not be among those who will come under His wrath. We are living in the day of His salvation. The light from the cross of Calvary is shining forth in clear, bright rays, revealing Jesus, our sacrifice for sin. “We have redemption through ‘His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
God desires to restore His image in you. Believe that He is your Helper. Resolve to become acquainted with Him. As you draw nigh to Him with confession and repentance, He will draw nigh to you with mercy and forgiveness. As you work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, He “worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”
GOD’S MESSAGE—ITS RECEPTION.
By Walter E. Gillis
Two Scenes.
Scene 1.—Place, Egypt. Time, 10th day of the Month Nisan, B. C., 1491. Hermes and Ptolemy Meet in the King’s Court.
Hermes.—“Tell me, Ptolemy, hast thou yet come to any final conclusion upon the marvels that this man, Moses, and his brother, Aaron, have been proclaiming in the king’s throne room and performing in all the coasts of Egypt? Of a truth, my soul is stirred within me, and fain would I give heed to his counsel to enter into the family of that Great I Am, whose word he proclaims. And without controversy his God is not unmindful of his servant, for when he speaks the word, behold the answer follows ere the echo of his voice is still.”
Ptolemy.—“Forsooth, Hermes, thy voice bears record of thy mind’s turmoil. Surely some ghoulish spirits hath robbed thee of a night’s repose. Behold yon sun, whose glorious beams spread life and happiness through all the land, calls thee to worship. For unknown centuries hath he sped upon his way, and we have offered our devotions to him. And, now, because this up-start Hebrew whose life is forfeit to the king’s command, hath startled thee with a doctrine new and purely theoretical, dost thou forsake the theology of our learned priests and all the glorious pageantry of our solemn feasts, to worship simply in the bush or by the brook a god unseen? ’Tis passing strange that one so learned as thou shouldst be thus captivated. Wilt thou that I proclaim before the king and all his mighty lords this whim that has seized thee? Dost already hear the hiss?—and note the curling lip expressive of their scorn? Come, Hermes, to the Hebrew camp and there behold the scenes of slavery. The man bowed down with burdens thrice increased, the women at their scourge-compelling toil,—and maidens, children, e’er the curl of babyhood hath left their lips, impelled by lash and threat to the still increasing task. What a god is theirs to thus permit such awful degradation! And wilt thou, a lord in Egypt born, join thyself to them?”
Hermes.—“Enough, materialist, sophist, subtlest reasoner of thy school. The visible token of their God’s approbation is certainly conspicuous for its absence in the matter of their toil. But look you, hast thou ever seen such vigorous forms? the glow of health, the multiplying host that from one family in great-grandsire’s day are now increased to full five5million souls? Canst thou explain it? Not these things, O Ptolemy, stirs my soul. But those miracles and messages from that Great I Am. ’Tis true the magi have in part performed what seemed the self-same miracles. But mark you this, the serpent rod from Moses’ hand devoured the others there before the king. And all those plagues (explain them as you will by the quarrels of Osirus and the gods) were never stayed until the Hebrew’s God by Moses signified it as His will. The preternatural darkness of those awful days! Didst note that in the camp of Israel that sun which is thy boast shone brighter still, obeying in silent haste the mandate of I Am? And mark you, too, that every god, both great and small in Egypt’s coasts hath been rebuked by those nine plagues. What say those high-born priests of On and Thebes? Not anything to the point, but boast which college has the patronage of the gods, as they mumble o’er their prayers and scan with learned look the bloody entrails of a goat. But see Moses and his brother yonder. He speaks. Hasten and we shall hear the message.”
Moses.—“Give ear, O elders of the camp of Israel. The Lord, our God, creator of heaven and earth, and all that doth pervade them, has one more plague with which to smite this perverse nation as a sign of His sovereignty and a note of warning to your hosts that God will not be mocked. Nine plagues have fallen, rejected by their stubborn hearts. The mercies of our God have been refused. Now, four days hence, at midnight, shall the final plague, the direst of them all, be consummated. I Am hath given this message. Make it known in every house. Perchance some soul among the enemy will seek the sheltering portals of our homes.”
“Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house. . . . And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. . . . For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment; I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.” Ex. 12:3–13.
Hermes.—“A direful message this, O Ptolemy. Didst mark the authority of his word? The same that marked the former messages of woe. But four days more and I must die. Wait, did he not tell of safety within the blood-stained portals? ’Tis true, and I will avail myself of it. What is wealth, position, fame, when life is gone?”
Ptolemy.—“Think, Hermes, of your plight should this prophecy prove false; the disgrace of it. Be a man. It becometh man once to die at any rate.”
Hermes.—“This man’s message hath the voice of God in it, and can not fail.”
“And it came to pass that at midnight the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on His throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon.” Ex. 2:29.
WALTER E. GILLIS.
(Concluded next week.)
FEEDING ON THE WORD.
By John Ramsay, Jr.
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matt. 4:4.
We know from the natural laws laid down by the Most High that we must partake of food to sustain our physical being, or we will starve, and finally die. This same law demands the doing in reference to our spiritual being. The Lord has just as graciously provided us with spiritual food as He has with physical food, in giving us His Word, and this Word contains life-giving principles. John 6:63.
As we see that we can not live without this food any more than we can live without physical food, of which we must partake daily, we will see that it is as necessary that we feed upon God’s Word every day. We read in the seventeenth chapter of Acts that the people of Berea “were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily.”
If we neglect to study God’s Word daily, we will become cold and indifferent in regard to our spiritual welfare, will starve for want of the Word, and will finally die eternally.
There are great possibilities in the study of the Scriptures, for they contain salvation. The apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, says, “From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” He also says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Tim. 3:15-17.
The whole of the Bible is to be studied, for the Saviour says, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me.” When those words were spoken, not one word of the New Testament had been written; only the Old Testament. Christ says the books of the Old Testament testify of Him. Then they contain the Gospel. So we see that all of the Bible is worthy of our careful study.