“Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.” Zech. 14:1–3.
IN these verses we learn that all nations are to be gathered against Jerusalem to battle, and that the city will be taken, after which the Lord will go forth against these nations. This divides the battle into two parts in which three powers are involved. (1) Some power which is in possession of the city, and which suffers a defeat; (2) the nations which attack the city, and are victorious, dividing the spoil in the city; (3) the Lord who goes against the victorious nations.
At least two other texts speak of the gathering of all nations to battle. In Joel 3:2, 9, 16, God says He will gather all nations, and bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and He admonishes them to prepare war; beat their plowshares into swords, and their pruning-hooks into spears; and when they are assembled, they are spoken of as multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision or cutting; and in connection with this the Lord will utter His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake. In Rev. 16:14–16 the spirits of devils, under the sixth plague, go forth to the kings of the earth and the whole world to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. And they are gathered into a place called Armageddon. That these texts refer to the same battle will be apparent from the following considerations:—
(1) The time in each is the day of the Lord. (2) In each one all nations are involved, and are cut off. (3) Both Joel and Zechariah locate the battle at Jerusalem, and the best critics look upon Armageddon as being in that vicinity.
Let us now inquire what power will be in possession of Jerusalem at the time of the battle of the day of the Lord. The power holding that city at the present time, and which has held it for centuries, is the Mohammedan or Turkish, which also controls the greater part of the territory drained by the River Euphrates. But the great event under the sixth plague is the drying up of the waters of the River Euphrates. Water is a symbol of peoples, etc. Hence the drying up of the water as a symbol would indicate the overthrowing of that power, and the cutting off of its people. The prophet in describing this shows that all nations are deceived by the spirits of devils, and thus gathered to this battle.
Since the eleventh day of August, 1840, Turkey has been called “the sick man of the East.” As a nation it has existed only by the sufferance of the great nations of Europe. In her conflicts with other powers thus far she has received favor and help sufficient to prevent her overthrow. But the prophet Daniel (ch. 11:44, 45) in describing the career of this power under the title of the king of the north, says:—
“But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palaces between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.”
The glorious holy mountain doubtless refers to Mount Zion in Jerusalem. This text, then, teaches that the Turk will transfer his capital to Jerusalem, and then he shall come to his end, for none shall help him. In harmony with this idea, it was reported through the secular press that, during the recent troubles, the Porte kept his royal yacht in readiness to flee, in case things assumed too serious an aspect, and he stated that he should make Jerusalem his asylum, at least for a time.
How long the nations of earth will continue to allow their own jealousy and suspicion of each other to prevent the overthrow of that power which is acknowledged to be an abomination in their eyes, no one can tell. But the Word of God foretells, that, when they do cease to help, and finally go against him, it will be under a deception, but that the city will be taken, and that power overthrown.
Next we will inquire, What will lead all nations to come up against Jerusalem? At the present time we find all nations interested in the Eastern Question. While all confess that the Turk deserves to be blotted out from the world, yet none are willing to allow another to do the work, lest some advantage be gained thereby, nor can they come to an agreement whereby a united effort can be carried on to the same end.
The Christian world looks upon the Mohammedan power as antichrist, and this is true in so far as he is opposed to Christianity. But is he the antichrist which is to appear in the world just before Christ comes?
Who Is Antichrist?
Let us examine a few texts of scripture. In the Bible there are two mysteries brought to view,—the mystery of godliness, which is God manifest among men, and which centers in the person of Jesus Christ; and the mystery of iniquity, which is evil manifested among men, and which centers in the person of Satan. The manifestation of the mystery of godliness is only complete by the personal appearance of Jesus among men. So we might conclude that the manifestation of the mystery of iniquity could only be complete with the personal appearing of Satan among men. Will the Scriptures warrant such a conclusion? In 2 Thess. 2:3–8 we read:—
“Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.”
By these verses we see that the mystery of iniquity was working in Paul’s day, and that any one in the church who would assume the place and prerogatives of God would be a manifestation of this mystery, and would be a man of sin, a son of perdition. We see this illustrated in the Papacy, a man exalted to be the head of all churches, and a corrector of heretics. History has chronicled the result, and we see men bowing down to one called Lord God the pope, the voice of man received as the voice of God, Inquisition and Persecution joining hands, and stalking through the land, leaving a trail of wretchedness, suffering, and death. And these same results will surely follow wherever man takes the place of God, and attempts to dictate to his fellow-men in matters of conscience.
But in the verses quoted, the apostle speaks of something that was hindering this manifestation, and that it could not be full and complete until this hindering cause was taken out of the way. That which God has placed in the world to oppose and hinder the work of the evil one is His Holy Spirit. As this Spirit is shut out of the heart, the spirit of Satan comes in; and in no man can there be a perfect manifestation of either of these mysteries until the other is completely taken out of the way. So in this world the mystery of iniquity can not be fully developed until the Spirit of God shall be withdrawn as an opposing element.
When human probation closes, those not saved will be abandoned by the Spirit of God, so that there will be at that time but two classes,—one from whom the spirit of Satan is entirely shut out, and who will constitute in themselves a revelation of the mystery of godliness, and who will be ready to receive Christ as He personally appears in the clouds of heaven; the other a class from whom the Spirit of God is entirely shut out by their own volition, and who constitute in themselves a revelation of the mystery of iniquity, and who are ready to receive Satan as he personally appears among men.
What Only Restrains?
In harmony with these ideas we find the reading of verses 6 to 8 in the Revised Version as follows:—
“And now ye know that which restraineth, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work; only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall be revealed that lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of His mouth, and bring to naught by the manifestation of His coming.”
Thus we see that the lawless one (Satan) is to appear just before Christ appears, and is finally to be slain by the breath of the Lord. But he will not appear as the evil one, for that would be no deception, which it is to be; for6the nations are to be deceived. The Saviour foretold the coming of false christs who should show great signs and wonders, so that they should deceive, if it were possible, the very elect. The apostle tells us that Satan is transformed as an angel of light, and that his apostles would be transformed as the apostles of Christ.
We have found that the mystery of iniquity is really an effort to hold among men the place which belongs only to Christ. So Satan will come purporting to be Christ. He can not come as Christ comes in the clouds of heaven; but in the words of another:—
As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. The church has long professed to look to the Saviour’s advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation. Rev. 1:13–15. The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings out upon the air, “Christ has come! Christ has come!”
When Satan has led the nations to believe that he is Christ, the question will arise, Where is antichrist? Satan will then point to the Mohammedan power, and contend that it constitutes antichrist. And behold, it is in possession of Jerusalem, the holy city, the city of the great King. Under the deception that Satan is Christ, and that Jerusalem rightly belongs to him, the nations of earth will unite in sending their armies against the Turk, and he shall come to his end, for none shall help him. Thus will the waters of the great River Euphrates be dried up; thus will the way of the kings of the East be prepared, that they may have a part in the last and more important phase of this battle of Armageddon. And Zech. 14:1, 2 will be fulfilled.
Jerusalem will then be in the hands of the nations, but God has said that He will make it a cup of trembling, and a burdensome stone to all the people, and that all who burden themselves with it shall be cut to pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. Zech. 12:2, 3.
In the battle, many in the city will be slain. Half will be taken captives, but there will be a residue in the city who will not be cut off. This remnant is the people of God, and the Lord shall identify Himself with them for their salvation, and He shall go forth and fight against those nations as he fought in the day of battle. But how does God fight in the day of battle? We have an instance of this recorded in the twentieth chapter of 2 Chronicles. The children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir came against Judah. And God told them that the battle was not theirs but His, that they would not need to fight; and the record tells us that God set ambushments against the enemies, for the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to slay and to destroy them, after which they turned upon each other, so that when Judah came out to see them, they found them all dead bodies.
The same thing was true in the battle of Gideon against the Midianites; for God brought confusion among the foe, so that every man’s hand was against the hand of his fellow. Thus will it be in this battle; for when the nations have taken the city, the question of which one of them shall possess it, and who shall stand at the head, is still unsettled. The restraining Spirit of God being withdrawn, the nations are given over to the spirit of Satan, and anarchy, jealousy, and envy will run riot among them. The desire for self-advancement will move and control them all. And, having no common foe, they turn upon each other, and the armies are cut to pieces.
“And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people; all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness; and I will open Mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God. In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.” Zech. 12:3–8.
The strength and glory of the people of God are set forth in verses 6 and 8, while verse 7 teaches that the salvation of God will come in such a way that one part of His people shall not be jealous of another, but all will be one.
Other scriptures describe this battle, and show that the results are not confined to Jerusalem. Jer. 25:29–33 reads as follows:—
“For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by My name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He shall mightily roar upon His habitation; He shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth, for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, He will plead with all flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.”
So we see that while the destruction begins at Jerusalem, it is carried to the ends of the earth. The evil which goes forth from nation to nation is the spirits of devils spoken of in Rev. 16:14.
At the close of this battle two of the classes participating in it will be cut off, to wit, the Turk and the nations. The third part or portion of God’s people are brought through, and refined, thus fulfilling Zech. 13:8, 9:—
“And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on My name, and I will hear them; I will say, It is My people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God.” Zech. 13:8, 9.
The remaining verses of chapters 12 and 13 describe in part the conditions under which, and the process by which, God’s people are refined, and these will be considered in the next article.
How They Became Convinced
[Believing it would be of interest to our readers, the editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has asked Sabbath-keeping ministers and evangelical workers to tell in a few words the scripture or scriptures, the truths and principles, which constrained them to accept the unpopular truth of the seventh-day Sabbath. These testimonies must not exceed 500 words. Let us hear from all.]
XXXIII.
I was a church member honestly desiring to be in harmony with God. I believed that the law expressed in the Ten Commandments had no existence till given at Sinai, and that its scope was measured by God's dealings with ancient Israel.
Hear this: “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament; and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.” Rev. 11:19. This text was brought to my special notice by a Seventh-day Adventist minister in connection with the Sabbath question; and, honestly, there was a thrill went through me which had he known about, he would have been even more persevering in showing me the Sabbath truth.
What was in that ark?—Certainly the Ten Commandments known as the moral law of God. What room now to confine its scope to the Lord's dealings with ancient Israel? There are the heavenly hosts of whom it is said: “They do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word.” If the blessings enjoyed by the angels come from doing His commandments, my relation to those commandments is surely of eternal importance. Another text came with overwhelming force to my mind: “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. I knew the tenth commandment of that law in the ark, seen by the prophet in the temple in heaven, said, “Thou shalt not covet,” and candidly I needed not to be reminded of the language of the Fourth Commandment of that law. God's demands were plain. I saw my Saviour in a new light. Sin—transgression of the law—had separated me from God. The yawning gulf was spanned by the death of His Son “who knew no sin.” My only course, if I would have peace of soul, was to render full obedience to that law.
No words at my command could express the blessings which came to me with the acceptance of the Sabbath truth; and when this stammering tongue is loosed by the thrill of immortality, in the “ages to come,” I will tell the “exceeding riches of His grace” who bridged that gulf of death (the wages of sin, made known by the law) and placed me in harmony with “Thy commandments” which are “exceeding broad.”
Dear reader, are you sharing these blessings? If not, why not? Come, think about it. A. M. DART.
XXXIV.
THE Third Angel's Message found me twenty-six years ago, a class leader and superintendent of a Sunday-school, also a steward in the M. E. Church in the suburbs of Baltimore city.
The scriptures that led me to the observance of the Sabbath were Dan. 7:25 (telling me of a power that would persecute God's people and attempt to change His law) and 2 Thess. 2:3, 4 (telling who that power is), with Matt. 5:17 (showing the utter impossibility of such a thing being done). Those scriptures settled my mind upon the Sabbath question.
I want to say right here that the good, old Review and the SIGNS OF THE TIMES did noble work in feeding my soul in those days, and have been the best side-lights to the Bible I have been able to obtain ever since. May God continue to bless those faithful messengers. JOHN F. JONES.
DOES YOUR ANCHOR HOLD?
We are nearing the end of a mighty and tempestuous voyage. We are about to enter the harbor. The storm increases as we near our haven. We have many times cast an anchor till the fury of the gale had spent itself. The question is often asked on shipboard; while faces are white with fear and anxiety, “Will the anchor hold?” Life or death may be in the answer. No wonder the cheek is blanched and the lips pinched, and the tongue almost refuses to articulate.
But does your anchor hold now while every embattled element of sin, strife, confusion, and deception is striving to throw you upon the rocks of everlasting destruction? Eternal life, or unending death, hangs on the true answer to that question. If it holds, God’s purpose in you and for you will triumph. If it fails to hold, then defeat is written over all that you might have been. Every wind of doctrine that Satan can cause to blow will be struggling to snap your anchor chain or break your anchor hold. They will assail your bark from every point of the compass, and try every possible wrench or strain to throw your bark upon the rocks. Sea captains, in times of exceptional danger, have been known to slip their anchor chain to escape it, but not when the tide and the wind are setting strongly toward the rocks. This is such a time. The danger is great, but it is not a danger that we can escape by slipping the anchor chain. If your anchor is fast in the Rock Christ Jesus, no storm can destroy you. If you let go your hold, if you slip your anchor, nothing can save you. Christ will never allow the storm to break your hold on Him. He will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able to bear—above what He can strengthen you to bear. But He will not hold you against your will; He will not strengthen you for a stand you are unwilling to make. If you drift from His holding, it is because you have let go your hold on Him. There is blessed peace in being in that place where you can say, “I know Him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to guard that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” If we commit our soul—our life—to Him, He is able to keep that, to guard that, to guard and keep us.
The Rock to which you anchored when you accepted Christ can never be moved, tho the islands sink in the sea and the earth be shaken out of its place.8Never waver, never doubt it; do not weigh anchor for a moment thinking to cast it in some surer spot. Do not slip your anchor chain for one moment, thinking thus to run from any danger that seems to threaten. He is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” “In none other is there salvation; for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. Verily, “the foundation of God standeth sure.” Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 3:11. So outside of Him there is no hope; so outside of Him there is no anchorage for the soul. The last great storm of the long voyage is now on. You are riding it out at anchor, and the rocks are near. Eternal life depends on whether that anchor holds, whether you choose to trust your all to Him and rest in His keeping, or whether you let go your hold on Him and His Word, and seek unhelped to work your weak way out of the terrible maelstrom, out of the foaming breakers, out of the very jaws of death itself. If Satan can induce you to do that, he has compassed your overthrow; for the maelstrom is his, the storm is his, the breakers are his, and you have taken yourself out of the hands of Christ and are drifting into his. You can not afford to do it. Better see to it that your anchor holds, and then rest your soul in the peaceful arms of His keeping.
THE OLD AND THE NEW.
The old year is rapidly passing to its close. It will soon be numbered with those which have gone before. Its calendar will be cast aside, and a new one will take its place. Yet it will live for weal or woe forever in the lives and destinies of those who have used it. For all time, as men measure it, is but a segment of the great circle of eternity.
The year has been a startling one in many respects. It is too early, when within its confines, to review its great general outlooks in their physical, political, social, religious aspects. This we will leave to a later time. But it is not too early for each reader of these lines to take a retrospective view of his own past, and to consider seriously what sort of foundation that past is laying for future character-building; what sort of seed has been sown for future reaping; what sort of harvest it has gathered from the sowing of previous years. It is good to consider all this day by day, week by week. It is good to have a balance-sheet in life's account struck each evening. But even then it is well to take larger, broader views, when tests of sowing may be seen in the harvest.
It is a tendency in these days to discard the old and accept the new. We frequently hear of “old fogy” ideas, but never of “new fogy” thought, largely perhaps because the “new” has not been tested. But there is a sure test, praise God, for the Christian, by which he may test both old and new. That test is “the law and the testimony;” if men “speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them.”
No things are new with God. Every right principle, every truth, are as old as God, as enduring as eternity; and every wrong principle, every error, whatever form it may assume, are but perversions of the right and the true. Hence it is true from the divine standpoint that “there is nothing new under the sun,” yet from the standpoint of men there are things “both new and old.”
Not all the old, therefore, is bad. In fact, the truly good is from the days of eternity. The good old, however, is ever new. The bad old ever waxes and wanes to decay. The ways of righteousness are old ways. The true prophet of God ever calls: “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” Jer. 6:16. The good way is found in the old paths, and there only is rest. Men may seek to break them up, to destroy the foundations, but every true reform seeks to build “the old waste places” of righteousness, to “raise up the foundations of many generations;” and we are assured by the Word that those who do this shall be honored by being called “The Repairer of the breach, The Restorer of paths to dwell in.” Isa. 58:12.
God's law of righteousness is old, very old; but it is filled with the potency of perennial life; it is the expression of His everlasting righteousness. Its past is therefore eternal; its future can not be otherwise than unchangeably eternal. Then, dear soul, choose the eternal precepts of God for your rule of life and character. “Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
Sin—transgression of God's law—and error—perversion of God's truth—are very old; but they are among the old things which wax and wane to decay and death, and which blast with blight and destruction everything they touch. All the evil which is in the world came from the usurper, the perversion of the good. Sin's protean forms and aspects are myriad and novel, and some of them to every carnal heart taking, but all are perversions of the true, and tend always and forever downward.
Yet there is healing from the bruise; there is remedy for the disease. There is a balm in Gilead, there is a Physician there. And this is old, even before sin entered, before error sprang from truth's perversion. The infinitely wise God is not subject to change. There can be no surprise to His plan, no rout to His forces, no defeat to His government. It was “in the beginning” all sufficient to meet all that could come against it, and to turn the efforts of evil to everlasting victory. And thus there comes to us the Creator with the Father, the everlasting Son of God, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, and brings healing full and free through righteousness and abundance of life. And the dying old may find healing and health in the eternal new. They may find in it the new mercies and blessings, a “new covenant,” “new heart,” “new spirit,” “new name,” and a “new song” of everlasting joy, which shall end only when the eternal new heavens and new earth shall pass away. If not in the past, why not let the year begin with these blessed old new things of the everlasting God?
“CHRISTMAS GIVING.”
To Whom Shall We Give?
IF “Christmas” day means any good thing to us in a religious or truly thankful sense, it must mean it because of its association with the gift of Jesus Christ for the world. If we recognize His gift, it ought to mean in us large-hearted response.
Let us consider for a little time a brief catechism upon the subject.
1. Who is the great Giver of all?—“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” James 1:17.
2. What all-inclusive gift did He bestow?—“His only-begotten Son.” John 3:16.
3. For whom did He give Him?—For “all,” for “the world,” therefore for me.
4. Who shared in this gift?—The Son, “who gave Himself for us.” Titus 2:14.
5. For what purpose was the gift?—“That He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14); that we might be sons and daughters of God (Gal. 4:4, 5).
6. For how long was the gift?—Forever—for “eternal redemption.” Heb. 9:12; 7:25.
7. How often and where effectual?—Always and everywhere.
8. How often and where should we recognize it?—Always and everywhere.
9. To how many does it make us debtor?—To all needy ones.
10. Give two examples of this.—“I am debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.” Rom. 1:14. This includes all missionary work, home and foreign.
“When thou makest a dinner or a supper [or givest gifts], call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor rich neighbors; lest haply they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast [or givest gifts], bid [remember] the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.” Luke 14:12, 13.
11. What is the result of such giving?—“And thou shalt be blessed; because they have not wherewith to recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:14.
Let these thoughts come home to every Christian reader in these days of Saturnalian feasting, revelry, and selfish indulgence; in these days when gifts as often as otherwise provoke envy and strife. Let the giving be in recognition of Him whose gifts you can never repay. Let it be for those for whom He paid the same purchase-price as for you, and whom He loves as truly as He does you. Let it be—if they are in darkness—to bring to them the light and joy of eternal salvation. Let the giving be—if they are poor and needy—to minister to their needs, and so bring joy to your own heart. Give freely, give wisely, give liberally; for “God loveth a cheerful giver; and God is able to make all grace abound unto you; that ye, having always all-sufficiency in everything, may abound unto every good work.” 2 Cor. 9:7, 8.
Helping Others from Where We Stand
“We can not help anybody farther up than we stand ourselves.”
ACCUSING THE BRETHREN
By G.
THE Revelation gives us a prophetic view of the casting down, the complete overthrow, of Satan, who is called the “accuser of our brethren.” Ch. 12:10. This is irrefutable testimony that the accusing Spirit is Satanic, and that all who are imbued with it will come to destruction. It began in accusing God of injustice and of falsehood. It took hold of the first human pair, and caused Adam to accuse God of being the author of his downfall. “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” There was the double accusation of His Creator and of his wife. Cain accused God of partiality, and killed his brother.
When Christ was on earth, His accusers were the accusers of His disciples. The prophecy of Daniel shows that a power would arise that would “speak great words against the Most High,” and would “wear out the saints of the Most High;” and this was literally fulfilled in the Papacy during the Dark Ages. Moreover, it is regaining its former power, as the Revelation plainly declares (Ch. 13:3-9), also boasting that its principles and purpose never change.
These things show that the accuser of God is the accuser of His people, and the “accuser of our brethren” is logically the accuser of God. Jesus has forewarned us: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you. . . . Because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. . . . If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” John 15:18-20.
Accusing the brethren is dangerous work, as it manifests the spirit of the enemy of God, and he who persists in indulging that disposition is already doomed to be “cast out.” He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 1 John 4:20. G.
GOD’S MEMORIAL AND SIGN.
By G.
A Memorial of Creation.
“God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” Gen. 2:3.
“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, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; 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.” Ex. 20:8–11.
Memorial of Redemption.
“And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.” Deut. 5:15.
Moses was a type of Christ, and the deliverance from Egypt was a type of redemption by Christ. Redemption is a new creation; therefore the Sabbath day is an appropriate memorial of redemption. “For we are His [Christ’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Eph. 2:10. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Cor. 5:17.
A Sign Forever.
“The children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever.”
Now who can constitute Israel perpetually? Not the natural seed; for “they are not all Israel which are of Israel.” “They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Rom. 9:6, 8. The Seed contemplated in the promise is Christ (Gal. 3:16), “and if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Verse 29. The children of the promise are “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.”
Only those who are made new creatures in Christ, only such as are created in Christ Jesus, could possibly be participants in a perpetual covenant; for only “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” John 3:36. Therefore “we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Phil. 3:3. So that a sign between God and the children of Israel forever must be between Him and the spiritual Israel, who “have no confidence in the flesh,” or natural seed. And the Sabbath which is a sign between God and Israel forever is the seventh day; because when He says, “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever,” He adds, “for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested.”
But in order to be “created in Christ Jesus,” and thereby become “a new creature,” one must have on the righteousness of Christ; in other words, he must be made just. Justification comes by faith, which is counted for righteousness. Rom. 3:28–31; 4:3–5; 5:1; Eph. 2:8. Then Redemption, which is a new creation in Christ, which is salvation, includes justification by faith. Therefore the Sabbath day, the seventh day, which was blessed and sanctified by Christ at creation, is the sign forever of justification by faith. It is the sign that God has given. Thus “the Sabbath was made for man,” and the evidence of our acceptance of the Lord’s perpetual covenant is shown in remembering the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And when the angels of God go forth at the end of probation to seal the people of God throughout the earth, this will be the sign by which they will be known. Nor will any mere formal observance deceive those discerning eyes. They will know the wheat from the tares. The one who keeps the Sabbath day holy will be keeping all the commandments of God. The faith that keeps one commandment will keep all; so the spiritual laxity that would ignore one commandment does not keep any. James 2:10. Such will not be wearing the “sign” which God has given to mark His people. G.
