Not What We Give, but What We Have Left—Threw Away His Gold, and Saved the Child—Having in Our Lives the Scars of Sacrifice
By MABEL A. SWANSON
ALL true work for God and man involves sacrifice. This is very evident in the life of any one who lives not to himself alone. The whole life of a true mother is one of continual sacrifice. The successful business man must sacrifice for the sake of his firm. The only possibility for cooperation and union is in the sacrifice of personal preferences or prejudices for the good of all. But it is in the realm of the spiritual that sacrifice finds its truest and fullest meaning.
ON THE ALTAR AND THE CROSS
The word “sacrifice” comes from the Latin sacer facere, to make sacred, by putting to the death. The Rev. Samuel M. Zwemer describes it as “a word that is full of blood, a word that we only see in its fullest significance in the Old Testament on the altar and in the New Testament on the cross. As the very heart of the Old Testament teaching was the great altar, and as the heart of the teaching of the New Testament is the cross of Jesus,” so the very name of “Christian” spells sacrifice. The very soul of Christianity is sacrifice, and love is the supreme and only motive that can impel to the sacrifice involved. The essential life-giving power is just the spirit of Jesus, and His was essentially a spirit of supreme self-sacrifice. This was not confined to His death. It was manifested throughout His life. As He unceasingly went about doing good, it meant the pouring out, little by little, of His own life and strength—His spending and being spent for others.
It is this same kind of sacrifice that changes mere living into life, that makes all deeds effective. The sacrificial life is born of the abiding principles of love and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in loyalty to Him, in affection for Him, that is found the source of Christian liberality and power. When we begin to know Him, the river of sacrifice begins to flow.
GOD’S SACRIFICE IN THE PLAN
In “Christ’s Object Lessons,” page 49, we read the following concerning the source of this river: “The plan of redemption was laid in sacrifice,—a sacrifice so broad and deep and high that it is immeasurable. Christ gave all for us, and those who receive Christ will be ready to sacrifice all for the sake of their Redeemer. . . . If we love Jesus, we shall love to live for Him, to present our thank offerings to Him, to labor for Him. The very labor will be light. For His sake we shall covet pain and toil and sacrifice.”
We shall deem it a privilege to present our body a living sacrifice to God. The sacrifice must be whole and complete, for wholeness is demanded in the Master’s service. To do His will must take first place in our lives. We must not give Him merely the spare time. This occasions no sacrifice. Perhaps if we had much spare time, the Master could not use it. But it is the time we cannot easily spare for which He is longing. It is the hour cut out of the vital day, the time taken from what we thought was absolutely essential for our own comfort and welfare, and given to the poor or the needy, that counts.
THE FIFTY CENTS WE CAN SPARE
The fifty cents that we can easily spare is no sacrifice. It is the money we cannot spare that bears the marks of Calvary. It is when our giving, whether of money or strength or time, touches the quick, that it becomes vital, and mere existence passes into life.
Thus all our offerings have their virtue conditioned by the sacrifice that gave them birth. This is well illustrated in the gift of the widow’s two mites, whence the lesson is clearly taught that if there be sacrifice in the giver, there will be spiritual power in the gift. Christ does not ask, “How much has been given?” but, “How much has been reserved?” for only this latter question brings out the point of importance, namely, as to what each offering really costs its giver. It is not giving any two mites, but giving the last two, that puts us in that widow’s class.
In an article entitled “The Real Heart of the Missionary Problem,” in the Missionary Review for September, 1913, Robert H. Glover makes an appeal thus: “Men and women, how much have we really given? Have we cast in out of our abundance, or out of our penury? Are we trying to serve God, satisfy our conscience, and save the heathen, with our spare cash or pin money, or are we measuring up to the New Testament standard, ‘Freely ye have received, freely give’?”
LOST HIS GOLD, BUT SAVED THE CHILD
The same writer also tells a story that illustrates clearly true sacrificial giving: “A ship was returning from distant gold fields, when, on nearing port, she suddenly struck a rock and began to sink. The passengers were forced to strike out for themselves and try to reach the shore. One strong man was preparing for the plunge, when a friendless little girl stood before him. ‘Oh, sir,’ she cried, ‘will you save me?’ A struggle was on in that man’s heart. Around his waist was strapped a belt filled with gold. It represented hard toil behind, and pleasures and comfort before him. But there stood the little girl, helpless, pleading.600One thing was sure, he could not save both. Which should it be? “A moment of hesitation, and then with resolute will he loosened the belt and flung it down. ‘Come, little one,’ he responded, ‘hold fast around my neck;’ and with his living burden he plunged into the waves and finally reached the shore. “He lay for a while unconscious after his exhausting effort; but when consciousness returned, and he beheld that little maid bending tenderly over him, and looking with loving gratitude into his face, he thanked God that he had played the man, and had had the courage to save a precious soul even at the cost of his gold.”
That man’s decision is thrust upon more than one Christian with whom the great choice is between the selfish use and enjoyment of gift, of gold, of life, and the rescue of precious souls through the sacrifice of these. But when you reach the other shore, saved, by His grace, from the rolling billows, and shall see by your side radiant souls rescued from heathenism by your sacrificing gift and effort, how it will deepen heaven’s joy to you! And you will never cease to thank God for the grace and courage given you to make the sacrifice.
THE SCARS THAT TEST
This spirit of sacrifice is the highest demand of the Christian life. The scars of Jesus Christ are the test of true discipleship. We must ask ourselves if the scars of Jesus, the print of the nails, the mark of the spear, are imprinted on our aims, on our decisions, on our expenditures, on our ambitions, on our daily habits. The greatest power we can gain is by somewhere, somehow, having in our lives the scars of the Christ.
The unoccupied fields of the world are calling for physical sacrifice, for intellectual sacrifice, for sacrifice of ambition, for spiritual sacrifice. This is the power that will yet open all the dark lands. On the mission field, as on the cross of Calvary, the sufferings of the soul are after all, as Dr. Zwemer expresses it, the soul of the suffering. Think of mothers, of children, of homes broken, of home ties stretched and torn asunder, of disappointed hopes, of long agonies and waitings, and hopes deferred, and hearts sick, and you will affirm that the missionary enterprise needs men who can, with Paul, rejoice to make up that which is lacking of the sufferings of Christ.
An Impossible Thing for God
By E. W. Farnsworth
By E. W. FARNSWORTH
Jesus said to His disciples, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” In astonishment they inquired, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus replied that “with men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” Matt. 19: 24-26.
It certainly is a great comfort to the soul, when struggling with sin and the weaknesses of the flesh, to know that with God all things are possible. When darkness comes down, and the clouds lower, and losses come, and want stares us in the face, and the world, the flesh, and the devil, all combined, seem set in battle array,— then to know that all things are possible with God is a source of strength. It is assured victory to believe this truth.
MADE GOD A LIAR
But this statement is modified by another equally precious and impressive: “It is impossible for God to lie.” Heb. 6: 18. There is one impossible thing with God—it is impossible for Him to lie. No one who believes in God at all would think that any physical thing is impossible with Him. But when it comes to what God says, there are many who doubt Him. “He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son.”
WHERE MOST MEN FAIL
It is at this point that most men fail. They think that they believe God, yet they do not believe the “record.” But to believe the record is to believe God, and to doubt the record is to disbelieve God.
Let us state it another way: God says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” It is generally known that Saturday is the seventh day; and now God says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath,” and “it is impossible for God to lie.” It being an absolute fact that God cannot lie, it is also absolutely true that the seventh day is the Sabbath. To disbelieve that fact is to charge God with being a liar.
God does not say that the seventh day was the Sabbath, but, “The seventh day is the Sabbath.” It is not a question of what was, but what is. God says the seventh day is the Sabbath now, and God cannot lie. Reader, do you believe God? or do you make Him a liar by not believing the record?
EVERY DAY
By C. P. Bollman
I would follow, follow Jesus,
Follow Jesus all the way.
I would know and love and trust Him,
Trust Him every day.
I would work each day for Jesus,
Work for Him who is the way.
I would spend and be spent for Him,
Serve Him every day.
I would take the cross He gives me.
I would bear it all the way.
I would learn to bear it better,
Better every day.
I would feel His love for sinners,
Learn to love in His own way.
I would have my love grow wider,
Wider every day.
C. P. BOLLMAN.
Alcohol a Deceiver
By Albert E. Place
By ALBERT E. PLACE
“WINE is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” No man can use alcohol, whether in spirituous liquors, or in wine, beer, or cider, even in “moderation,” and not be deceived thereby.
Aside from the devil himself, one of the greatest deceivers of mankind is King Alcohol.
I know of no sense wherein alcohol is not a deceiver. From that day when Noah took of the fermented products of his vineyard, to the year 1915, alcohol has branded itself, “Deceiver,” and has marked its victims, “Deceived.”
Alcohol deceives physically until stomach is ruined, liver, kidneys, and heart are atrophied, “hobnailed,” or enlarged by fatty degeneration, hands are palsied, nerves are lacerated, and the heart gives up the struggle.
Alcohol deceives financially, until the farm, the house and lot, the store, the furniture, the clothing, the food, in fact everything worth the price of a drink, has gone into the saloon till.
Alcohol deceives mentally until mind is dethroned, and spiders, snakes, and devils take the throne, and hurl anathemas at the ruined remains of a man created in the image of God.
Alcohol deceives morally until not one commandment of either God or man has any more effect upon life or action.
WHY?
Alcohol deceives because it makes people believe that which is absolutely false.
Alcohol deceives because it makes a man think he is well when he is sick, and it hinders his recovery, often making it well-nigh impossible.
Alcohol deceives because it makes a man believe he is warm when he is cold, and it hinders his getting warm, and he often freezes to death because he is “warmed” by alcohol.
Alcohol deceives because it makes a man believe he is rich when he is poor, and it makes it improbable that he will ever be rich by his own wisdom or exertions.
Alcohol deceives because it makes a man believe he is a gentleman when he is trampling underfoot the rights of others, in fact every principle that goes to make a gentleman, and it prevents his ever being a gentleman.
Alcohol deceives spiritually, until spirituality is dead, and it keeps its victims from entering into the kingdom of heaven.
When alcohol has done all this, and you find yourself without a home, without a friend, without a penny, and the gates of heaven closed to you by the hand that poured the deceptive beverage, then will alcohol tell you the truth as it mockingly cries: “Old man, young man, you are a miserable failure. You are lost—lost to humanity, lost to God, and lost to heaven.”
Therefore I would kindly yet earnestly say to every one who looks upon the blighting cup. Young man, old man, be not deceived thereby.
What Will You Risk for Glory?
By A. C. Gilbert
By A. C. GILBERT
WHAT is man willing to endure in order to obtain worldly glory?—He is willing to pass through severe hardships and trials, even facing death itself, if only, when he has achieved his aim, he may have as a reward a few brief years of transient glory, of human praise, and possibly a monument to remind his forgetful contemporaries who outlive him, that he lived.
What are men willing to risk in order to obtain heavenly glory?—The larger portion of mankind are not willing to consider heavenly honor, eternal life, of sufficient importance to give the subject even a serious thought, much less give the question a test.
In planning for eternal life, there is no risk. There is no venture in the whole plan of salvation. It is as certain as the everlasting hills. He who complies with the conditions laid down, by which an eternity of glory, of power, of pleasure, is obtained, will never fail of receiving his reward.
Eternal life and glory, uninterrupted association with the angels and the Lord Himself, are held out to every soul. The requirements of heaven for entrance are not difficult. The experience through which each candidate must pass before he is considered worthy of eternal honor and glory, is regarded as but a “light affliction” when compared with the “eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17) that is to be the everlasting joy of the redeemed.
Strange that men will allow opportunities to pass by for laying hold of priceless fame, unmeasured joy and honor, and instead, they will spend, and risk, and finally lose all in an effort to get a meager amount of earthly glory, which is as unreal as the shadow, and as worthless as glittering tinsel!
Were we asked to give up some principle of right, some essential element of character, some valuable talent, before being ready for the kingdom, well might we hesitate to respond to the invitation of mercy, “Come unto Me.” But when we are invited to give up only those things which are harmful, useless, destructive, repulsive, and coarse, how can it be said that the conditions of601salvation are too strict, the way is too strait? Can it be honestly said that it costs too much to obtain an “eternal weight of glory,” when the price asked is simply to exchange our “filthy rags” of sin for the beautiful “garments of salvation”? Isa. 64:6; 61:10; Zech. 3:3-5.
It is said that “sensualists look only at the present pleasure, and sell their souls for it. Earthly things are present and pleasant; therefore we so cleave to them, striving like the toad, who falls asleep with mostly earth in his paws.”
“Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom: but a man of understanding walketh uprightly.” Prov. 15:21. “For bodily exercise profiteth for a little time: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” 1 Tim. 4:8, margin.
Modern Mortars and the Brotherhood of Man
UPPER: FIRING A MORTAR GUN, FORT TOTTEN, LONG ISLAND, AUGUST 26, 1915.
LOWER: GENERAL VIEW OF PIT A AT FORT TOTTEN, IN NEW YORK HARBOR.
These are the new designs of twelve-inch mortars. As will be seen by the photograph, the mortars are behind the bank, entirely out of sight. The range finder is shown on the embankment. He telephones to the gunner the location and distance of the enemy’s ship, and a shot is aimed with the accuracy and precision of mathematical calculation. The upper gun is firing at a target six miles away, but the range of the guns is much greater than this. It is claimed that at a sufficiently high angle, the projectile, weighing seven hundred pounds, can be thrown a distance of thirty-one miles effectively; and when the shell is at the highest point, it will be seven miles up in the air.
Millions of our fellow men in the various nations are occupied in devising, building, experimenting, and practicing with the awful engines of death of this character. Human “enlightenment,” and our “boasted civilization,” and our much-talked-of “brotherhood of man,” do not stop it. Those who have read their Bibles to the proper purpose know perfectly well what it all means.
J. W. H
By J. W. H.
A DEBT is a wretched thing. It never keeps its proportions. Some mornings, when we wake up, it seems to hang over us as big as the gray canopy of the heavens; while at others times, it seems small enough to be stuffed into a trowsers pocket. Anyway, a toy balloon is a safer thing to play with.
J. W. H
Do Your Best
By J. W. Lowe
By J. W. LOWE
No person should feel satisfied with anything less than doing his very best. And he should do the highest class of work that he is capable of performing. Without having done his very best, and pursued the highest class of work of which he is capable, none can reasonably feel that he has performed his full duty.
Each individual should consider his God-given abilities as a sort of stock in trade, to be used to the extent of their capacity, to the end of bringing good to others, and glorifying his Maker.
Then, too, every human being should consider himself a steward of the mental and physical powers God has provided for use, and feel that he must use these powers to the honor and pleasure of the Giver.
All who have put forth the greatest effort of which they were capable, and pursued the highest calling they were qualified for, will be equally honored by their Creator, and will surely hear the “Well done” said to them.
Those who have not exercised their powers to their fullest capacity, and have not performed the most exalted work for which they had talents, will be regarded by their Creator as coming short of their full duty, and will even bring loss to themselves and others, which cannot be repaired throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity.
“Questions and Answers”
“THE very interesting book ‘Questions and Answers’ received. In some ways, this unique volume is one of the most useful that I have ever seen; and in the matter of interest, there are few books that will compare with it.”
For $2.00 you can secure a copy of this book with the SIGNS OF THE TIMES the rest of 1915 and all of 1916.
Be Upright and Outright
“Be upright and outright.”
FOOLISH CHARGES AGAINST ROME
IN the Vancouver World recently there was a paragraph notice of a summons that had been served on one of the Protestant pastors of the place, in which it is charged that he “used seditious language, and accused Rome of being behind the war.” The dispatch further states that the church “decided to back up their pastor to the limit.” There is nothing to be gained for the cause of Christ by ministers’ engaging in discussions of that kind, and making charges of that sort against the papal power.
OIL WELLS IN GALICIA SET ON FIRE BY THE RETREATING RUSSIANS
The issue between Protestantism and Catholicism is not whether or not the papacy is the instigator of the war in Europe, but, Does it present the Christ of the Bible, and the Bible itself, to the individual?
There are many people who seem to have the idea that the very fact that a man is a Catholic brands him as a sort of outlaw, and that if a man is a Protestant, he is all right. But the sacred Word recognizes that God has people in the Catholic Church as well as in all the communions of Protestantism. The same Word recognizes that all these organizations, when the last generation is reached, are in a deplorable, backslidden, worldly, and therefore unchristian condition; and His mighty call is, “Come out of her, My people.”
It is unfortunate to allow some kind of political measure to cloud the great issue, and to cause prejudices and bitter feelings that will keep the individual from hearing the divine call of God’s message.
Self Fades in Christ’s Light
By J. E. F.
In the early morning, a long and great shadow is cast of ourselves; but as the glory of the day wears on, the shorter grows our shadow, until at noontime the shadows sink into our shoes. So as the light of Christ’s glory comes into our experience, the self shadow sinks out of sight. J. E. F.
CAN THEY TALK WITH THE DEAD?
By G. B. T.
SPIRITUALISTS claim to have communion with the spirits of those who are dead. Friends hold converse with friends, parents with children, and children with parents. This claim, if true, would indicate that the dead have an active interest and participate in things of this world. But God says: “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Ps. 146: 3, 4.
“For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.” Eccl. 9: 5, 6.
These statements of Holy Writ can never be harmonized with the claims of modern spiritualism. They stamp its claims as false. And as it comes to us with falsehood on its lips, we are forced to the conclusion that it is one of the delusions of these last days, and destined to destroy at last those who trust its false claims.
The dead “know not anything,” and therefore cannot return and hold communion with the living. Spiritualism is Satan’s most polished effort to make good the lie told in Eden, “Ye shall not surely die.” G. B. T.
MAKING DULLARDS AND NEURASTHENICS
PROF. M. V. O’SHEA, in the Mother’s Magazine for October, makes some striking assertions in regard to the effect of tea and coffee upon school children. The facts presented are worthy of the widest circulation. The following paragraphs give the professor’s words:
“Mr. Taylor, of Philadelphia, has reached the conclusion that children who drink tea or coffee are not as fit physically or mentally as those who do not drink it. He makes the statement that children who drink much coffee do poorer work in school, and rank lower in conduct, than those who do not drink it.”
“It seems strange that parents should encourage this habit in their children. An investigation recently made in a large high school showed that eighty-three per cent of the pupils used tea or coffee, or both, habitually. Some said they could not eat a meal ‘without something to drink.’ Many of them confessed that they were restless in their sleep, and a few said they could hardly get any sleep at all at night. They thought the trouble was due to their ‘having too much to do in school.’ They are constantly overstimulated by the alkaloids in tea, coffee, and cocoa, and consequently are in no condition to do thoroughly good work in school. Moreover, they are high-strung and irritable.”
“If your children are drinking tea and coffee regularly, they are simply building up physical, nervous, and mental barriers in their paths.”
OVERSTIMULATED BY CHOCOLATE
“Do you know that many children are kept in a state of chronic overstimulation by excessive eating of chocolate, at soda fountains and in candy? Many children will be wakeful at night if they eat chocolate candy in any form after supper. The next day, they will be nervously out of repair, and will crave more chocolate to make them feel better. When the reaction comes, they will need a still larger dose of chocolate to whip up the system; and so it goes on in a vicious circle.”
“Why do you encourage your children to form habits which will be as millstones about their necks?”
THE QUESTION CORNER
By Milton C. Wilcox
CONDUCTED BY MILTON C. WILCOX, MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA
Note.—This department is for the purpose of helping Bible students. Answers must of necessity be brief, often only suggestive, never exhaustive, never infallible, only as they agree with the infallible Word. Such questions only will be answered as seem to the editors to minister to the mission of the paper. Questions of the same import cannot be answered repeatedly in the same volume. Name and address must be given, not for publication, but as evidence of good faith and to insure reply by letter if thought best. It is well always to inclose stamp, not stamped envelope, unless answer is desired by letter alone.
174 — ORIGIN OF SIN
Where did evil originate? We are told, in the Bible, that God created all things, and so He must have created Satan; and if so, why does He create human beings with an inclination to do wrong, and then punish them if they do it? I do not mean to doubt God's goodness; but I cannot understand this, and should like your opinion about it.
E. E. V.
We can tell where evil originated a great deal better than we can tell how it originated. The origin of it is set before us in Eze. 28:15. In referring to Satan, once an anointed cherub by God's throne, this scripture says, “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” Jesus tells us, in referring to the devil: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.” John 8:44.
God created all things, but God did not create wickedness or sin. The devil exists, but God did not create the devil. God created Lucifer; God created “the anointed cherub that covereth,” set before us in Ezekiel 28, whose name was Lucifer. This is shown in Isa. 14:12-14. Sin made Lucifer the devil.
In order that character might be developed, he who possesses the character must have the right of choice. Angels are not machines, neither are human beings machines. They are not created to go in a certain way, as a machine is. If they were, there never could be any happiness with mankind. We are happy because we have that which we choose, if it is a good thing; but if we were simply machines, set to run in certain grooves and on certain tracks, and do certain things, there could come no pleasure to us, however beautiful those things which we do. We would weary of them after a while, and they would not be our choice. Consequently those who form character must have the right of choice.
Just why it was that Lucifer turned aside from the right and did the wrong, we cannot tell, any more than we can tell why sometimes we do it. Evil men themselves wonder why it is that they chose what they did choose; yet they will admit that the choice was theirs, and we admit also that we could have chosen differently if we would. We hold ourselves responsible for these things in a measure at least, and we hold those who do us wrong responsible for the wrongdoing. Consequently we ourselves are in agreement that God is just when He punishes those who do wrong. On the other hand, however, He has done everything in His power to induce men to do right. Though men sinned against God, and angels sinned against God, yet God offered them salvation by His grace, and gave the assurance that even though sin abounded, grace would much more abound in the overcoming of that sin. See Rom. 5:20.
Men have the inclination to sin, because they have inherited it. The stream does not rise above its fountainhead unless it is by some power outside of itself. Men are prone to sin, because they have inherited a nature that is sinful; but it is in their power to do just as Jesus did—so empty the heart of all selfishness, that the Lord Himself will come in, and will dwell there, and make true in us Gal. 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
The choice rests with us. God has thrown around every soul who lives in this world a sacred circle, which even He, by His divine power, will not enter to compel. “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing”; and then He pleads with us that we may choose life. Deut. 30:19. Again He tells us: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” Eze. 33:11.
Against all the loving entreaties of God, and all that God has done, we must turn, if we are bound to pursue the way to evil. On the other hand, every heart in this great world, heathen though that heart may be, if it has the purpose and the will to yield to God, God will call for and bring to Himself; “for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” 2 Chron. 16:9. He knows that we have the inclination to sin; He knows all our temptations; He understands all the doubts the enemy will bring into our hearts; yet He has met them all in His infinite goodness in giving His only Son, and in the assurances and power of His holy word.
175 — THE TWO COVENANTS
Please explain Gal. 4:21-28. Tell us why Agar is said to be Mount Sinai. What two laws or covenants are here spoken of?
C. V.
Hagar was the type of the old covenant at Mount Sinai. That covenant is recorded in Ex. 19:3-8; and its sealing, in Ex. 24:3-8. It is a covenant the Lord made with the Jewish people, in which they promised to do certain things, and God promised to do certain things for them. The weak part of that covenant was the promise of the people. They had no power in themselves to fulfill their promise, although they thought they had. Consequently they failed. Their own promises led to bondage rather than liberty. It was their privilege to accept the Lord Jesus Christ there—so to give themselves to God that the Lord's power would come in and help them and save them just as it did Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. But they could not look beyond that glory, and consequently that glory condemned them.
Hagar was the handmaid of Sarah; and the child she bore, Ishmael, was the child of a handmaid, or a slave. She bore children to bondage. Thus she well represented those who trusted in their own works. God had promised that He would bring forth the Seed through Sarah. Abraham could not believe that. He felt that he must adopt Eliezer of Damascus. One born in his house must be the heir. Gen. 15:2-4. And when the Lord told him that was not the case, he felt that he must scheme or plan in some way to help the Lord out; and so through Sarah's suggestion, a child was born by Hagar, the handmaid. This was human scheming, but it was not God's plan. It only led to bondage and trouble. Read the story in Genesis 12 to 21. Sarah was a freewoman, and therefore her children were free. Her child came contrary to human order, by the power and promise of God. Consequently Isaac represents the children of freedom, or liberty, those who are saved in Christ Jesus through the new covenant. That covenant rests wholly on the great, eternal promises of God. See an outline of it in Heb. 8:8-10.
Sarah, therefore, represents God's order; and all those who are saved according to God's order, by faith and the promises of the Lord Jesus, are children of freedom. They have the liberty of the Spirit of God.
The same two things are represented by earthly Jerusalem and heavenly Jerusalem. The earthly Jerusalem is representative of that kingdom which Israel tried to establish in their own righteousness, under more or less of constant rebellion against God; but the New Jerusalem, to which the children have not yet come, is the Jerusalem that is made wholly after God's order, and is free, and is therefore called the mother of the children of freedom. Hence Paul concludes that we who have believed in Christ are as Isaac was, the children of promise. Isaac was persecuted by Ishmael, the child of the bond servant; so God's true children will meet persecution from those who are following the schemes of men. But in the glorious outcome, God will save His children, and cast out those who are not of Him.
For an explanation of 2 Cor. 3:6-18, how the letter kills, the ministration of death, etc., see Bible Students' Library, No. 149, “What Is ‘Done Away’ in Christ?”
176 — THE PERPETUATION OF THE SEASONS
In Gen. 8:22 we read, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
O. H. S.
The thought in the mind of the querist is, seemingly, What about the destruction that the Lord will visit upon the earth? Of course, the text itself has reference to the normal condition of the world, while men live in it; and it has ever been true, from the time when the Lord gave the promise, to this time, that seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night have gone on in their regular course. And that will be true just as long as men live here in probation. When God sets men aside, then the earth itself may be counted as destroyed or rejected until God creates new heavens and a new earth. The promise is simply this,—that while men enjoy God's favor at all, these seasons will come and go just the same as they have been coming and going since the promise was given. When men are no more worthy of God's favor, then we will have upon the earth all the awful confusion and trouble that are indicated in Isaiah 24, Jeremiah 4, Zeph. 1:14-18, and elsewhere. Out of all that confusion and chaos God will create new heavens and a new earth.
177 — DAVID'S WIVES
Please tell me how many wives David had, and where the record is found.
H. F. S.
His first wife was Michal, Saul's daughter. See 1 Sam. 18:27, 28. His second wife was Abigail. 1 Sam. 25:39-42. His third wife seems to have been Ahinoam. 1 Sam. 25:43. Then in 2 Sam. 3:2-4 we have a list of his wives. In addition to those named were Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; Haggith; Abital; Eglah. As to how many he had beyond this, see 2 Sam. 5:13: “And David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron; and there were yet sons and daughters born to David.” Two of these we know to be Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11:27) and Abishag (1 Kings 1:3). Of his concubines, ten are mentioned in 2 Sam. 15:16.
The record refers, therefore, to nine wives and ten concubines. A great deal of David's trouble politically and otherwise came through his irregularities and sins in this respect.
