Australiasian Signs of the Times, Vol. 35, No. 22. (5/31/1920)

Australiasian Signs of the Times

May 31, 1920

Signs Publishing Co. · Melbourne, Victoria · May 31, 1920

What Has He Done? What Shall We Do?

THE old ship Zion is nearing the end of its voyage. The haven of eternal refuge is almost in sight. The climax of the contest between good and evil is near at hand. Soon we believe we shall see Him whom we have loved coming in the clouds of heaven to seal the gift of eternal life to His faithful and to put an end to the activities of sin.

This is not a shadowy illusion, based on human desire, feeding the anxious hearts of men with the husks of a false hope. It is the very certainty of certainties. Its foundation rests upon the irrevocable word of Him who created all that our eyes behold. The promise of our Lord’s return and His assurance of victory over sin are the very

bread of life to the hungry souls of men.

One day some will say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us.” Isa. 25:9. The clash of nations and the uncontrollable drive of events show that this generation is in the grip of forces that will not yield nor slacken until the contest is ended. It is the death grip of the powers of righteousness and iniquity; and the pen that writes history today writes the fulfilment of prophecy.

IN view of these facts, the greatest blessing that can come to any soul is to receive a knowledge of God’s message for this time. They who accept it enter into the inheritance of eternity. They become joint heirs with Jesus Christ to “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away”; and they who bring to their attention this saving truth become “workers together with Him” and sharers in His joy. The “Well done,” spoken by the lips of our Saviour to those who have done this, will be the sweetest words to which human ears have ever listened. The hardships endured and the rebuffs suffered which may seem like mountains now, will seem as nothing then. Says the writer of the Epistle to the Romans:—

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Rom. 8:18.

We sometimes are tempted to feel that we are doing considerable for the Lord’s cause, making considerable sacrifice; but when we view these “sacrifices” in the light of the accomplished victory, and see what our eternal gains are there as compared with our temporal losses here, we shall be ashamed even to mention them. God’s open-handed liberality toward us compared with our reluctance to give to the forwarding of His last great work in the earth will furnish a picture our mind’s eye will not wish to dwell upon.

GOD emptied heaven of its choicest treasure in order to make us the happy subjects of His realm. Our Saviour, in order that He might know and feel our sorrows, became a “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Because we dwell in flesh that is mortal, corruptible, temptable, having in it the accumulated tendencies of centuries of sin, “He also Himself likewise took part of the same.” He “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” Matt. 8:17. This is equivalent to saying that He became one of us. In fact, the Inspired Word makes this very statement: “Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest.” And here is the reason for it stated again: “For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted.” Heb. 2:14-18. Wonderful provision! Wonderful fairness! Wonderful justice! Wonderful love! All this was done for our good—not that we might have no occasion to accuse Him, but that nothing might be left undone in the work of saving men and healing the wounds that sin had made in the household of God.

IT is not possible for us to go through life without feeling the infirmities of the flesh in some degree; and there are many, very many, whose pain-racked bodies are a continual testimony to them of the weakness, frailties, and infirmities of the flesh, till they wonder if God still loves and cares. But God tells us that “we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are.” And again: “In all their afflictions He was afflicted.” If we are children of God, there is no sorrow or pain which we are called to bear but Christ has felt it and bears it with us. He is the kindest physician that ever ministered to the woes and ills of humanity. He feels our infirmities and bears our diseases. Never doubt it again; but thank Him that He does know and feel and care.

HAVE we felt the pangs of hunger? He has felt them as we never have. Have we dwelt in poverty, and been spurned by the well-to-do and great of earth? Remember that the Son of God, “though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.” He became poor that He might make us joint-heirs with Himself in the riches of heaven and in the earth made new. The way has been opened whereby every son and daughter of this world may be taken into that wonderful and blessed partnership. He has done His part to bring that about. Let us thank Him that He has, and then go and do ours.

If you are a tiller of the soil, remember that as year by year you have planted the seed, God has watered that seed with His rain and warmed it into germination with His sunshine. You sowed, and He multiplied the seed. You planted, and He heaped up, in your cellars and granaries, the increase that fed and clothed you, kept a roof over your head, and a pleasant couch under that roof. You sowed one and God made it thirty; you planted one and God made it fifty; you purchased sheep and cattle, and God gave you food for them, too, and they increased to your account. You laboured in sun and rain and cold to provide for your household; but God alone could make any good come out of all you did. He crowned your efforts with success, filled your ploughed land with waving grain, and your fruit trees with their bounty. There ought to be enough in this to make every tiller of the soil, every herdsman, every husbandman, every soul glad to acknowledge God’s goodness and love, and return Him thanks for the bounties He has bestowed upon man.

BUT these are the temporal things. What of those things that have to do with the great beyond? Without the knowledge of God, we are hopeless, lost. He has provided and set before us the hope of an eternal inheritance in an everlasting kingdom. We were sold under sin; He has redeemed us by His own blood. We were full of sin; He has promised to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity. Sin had burned itself into our very bones; but, “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Friends have forsaken us; but He declares, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” We have been through sorrow, affliction, strife, and turmoil; but Christ’s promise is, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you.” We are in constant need of help; He has filled His Book with unfailing promises of help for us in every time of trial. And when that great day of days shall come, He will take us under the wings of His protection, and hide us from everything that could do us harm.

What thanks are due Him! All we have that is justly in our keeping, came from Him; and all that Christ is heir to He has promised we shall share with Him. When we have truly thanked Him for all His great and marvellous gifts to us, we shall only have begun to understand how much there is to thank Him for. And when we have learned somewhat of that, our sacrifices and losses and gifts in this present world will occupy but a small place in our estimation. Let us put a right estimate upon things of a temporal nature, and not permit the nearness of the temporalities to blind our eyes to the true value of the eternal riches.

Denominational Union

The religious press and the secular press of today are filled with arguments and predictions concerning the union of the Churches of Christendom. More power is what is needed, and this great power many feel can come only through denominational unity. They say the churches must abandon their individualism and their denominational quarrels and work under common direction for a common purpose. But more essential than denominational unity is the unity of individuals and of churches with the great source of power Himself, Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. Denominational unity is not the great essential, but the unity of the believer with Jesus Christ is the one prerequisite of success in this grand warfare. The greater the machinery of Church unity, the less is the sense of dependence upon Jesus Christ. Thus will they have the form without the power, the shadow without the substance. Denominations need not quarrel, they should not quarrel, there is no necessity of their quarrelling, and the more they look to their Lord and Saviour Himself for direction, for courage, and for strength, the smaller will seem the necessity for conducting quarrels with other sects. The true Church of Jesus Christ does not quarrel with men. It teaches men, admonishes men, and exhorts men, and lays down the precepts of the gospel of Jesus Christ and stands firmly for those principles, leaving the Holy Spirit to convict of sin and turn the feet of the sinner into the path of righteousness. There is one faith, one baptism, one hope of our calling, one Saviour, one Lord and Father of us all, and as long as we are truly united with Him, we shall be true members of His household, brethren in the faith, standing staunchly for the principles of His kingdom

following where He leads, going where He sends, keeping the precepts of His holy law, and waging daily and hourly conflict with the forces of darkness, strengthened with His strength, and conquering through His power. That is the unity which counts; it is the substance and not the shadow, it is the power more than the form.

A Holy Thing

WE look over the ruin, the sorrow, and the death of the recent great war and wonder how it can be that any one in this day could look upon war in and of itself as a holy thing. Where we saw a few years ago, wealth, frugality, prosperity, peace, and stable governments, today through the mad ambition of militarism we see governments gone to pieces, famine and pestilence stalking through the world, and disease and destitution on every hand in the great countries of Europe. We have seen the results of war, and, look as we will, we can find no good thing that has grown out of it, no reward to the people who have suffered from it. On every hand there is trouble and destruction, desolation, ruined homes, and ruined prospects; and still there are those who uphold militarism and war as a holy thing. One who believes in the holiness of militarism has recently made the following declaration in a great European university:—

Because only in war all the virtues which militarism regards highly are given a chance to unfold, because only in war the truly heroic comes into play, for the realisation of which on earth militarism is above all concerned; therefore, it seems to us who are filled with the spirit of militarism that war is a holy thing, the holiest thing on earth.

If that which has accomplished what has been accomplished in this world through the Great War is “the holiest thing on earth,” then righteousness is sin, holiness is iniquity, justice is injustice, good is bad, and the doctrines of devils are the gospel which this world needs. War waged for personal ambition and for national aggrandisement is Satan’s answer to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is such teachings as that in the above quotation which have filled millions of our homes today with aching hearts, sent an army of cripples into the world to battle for existence, and brought the world itself to the brink of ruin. Of our Lord it is said that “He maketh wars to cease to the ends of the earth.” Ps. 46:9. The glad day is coming, and coming soon we believe, when war will be wiped out of the world, and the fear of war out of the hearts of redeemed men. The gospel of Jesus Christ, the glad news of salvation, will soon reach its consummation in this world, and the Prince of Peace will come to establish His peace throughout His universe. It is that and not war which is the holy thing that will bless the victorious redeemed peoples of the renewed and recreated earth.

Power Needed

THIS is an age when more power of one kind and another is needed, and is being used, than ever before. The water courses have been harnessed to furnish earth’s inhabitants with light, heat, and power. The winds have been harnessed to furnish their quota of power for the same purpose. Even the lightning itself, that bright power of the upper space, has been forced to declare the secret of its energy, and to turn the mill wheels of our world. In this same age we see a demonstration also of moral and physical and spiritual powers such as no age before has witnessed. The bloody grappling of the powers of the nations was a demonstration of the physical force of this age; but now in the realm of the spiritual a power has come in which is binding the intelligence of the world to the chariot wheels of the prince of darkness, and in millions of homes scarce a night passes without the subtle play of Satanic influences upon minds groping in the darkness for a vanished hand and a renewing of the ties that death has sundered. The Great War has sent a tidal wave of Spiritualism around the world, and through its subtle and deceptive influences millions are turning their feet into the paths that lead to the pit of ruin. But God has His forces and His powers also working in this age of power. While the insidious agencies of the realms of darkness are seeking to captivate the minds and the souls of the people, the mighty power and influence of the Spirit of God are also manifesting themselves to thwart the designs of the evil one. Concerning this great problem and this playing and interplaying of the forces of this world, Mr. Frank Lenwood makes the following interesting comment in “Social Problems and the East”:—

What hope is there for society unless we can lay hold on power to redeem what Kipling calls “the legion of the lost ones”? We cannot ignore the lost. They are a blot upon any fair scheme of life renewed, they are carriers of an infection more easily communicated and more destructive than physical disease. Above all, they are human souls in need, their fate is more crucial for society, more interesting in the eyes of God than that of the ninety and nine who fit into our seemly organisation. It is in this power to recall men from the depths that our Master stands alone. Some of us have good cause for being certain (cause which might surprise those friends who know only the respectable surface of us) that Jesus Christ can redeem. We are in His service because He is putting sin beneath our feet. It is so in every country where He is known. But for the touch which has healed the leprosy of sin, this modern world of ours would be a lazar-house from end to end.

The danger in this age is of linking up with the wrong source of power. There is one Guide Book whose counsels and warnings and encouragements will enable us to find and keep in constant touch with that source of power which will strengthen us for the personal conflict with the forces of evil. That Guide Book is the Bible from heaven.

New Mandarin Bible

By F.

WE clip the following interesting item from the Australian Christian World:—

Through the efforts of the American Bible Society, a new translation of the Bible has been completed for the Chinese. This is the culmination of the efforts of many workers, both Chinese and foreign, during more than a quarter of a century. The work of the translation has cost the Bible societies 132,000 dollars (Mexican). An average of several hours has been spent on each verse, and there are 31,173 verses in the Bible. One foreigner and one Chinese have died at their labours. The chairman of the translation committee is Rev. Dr. Chauncey Goodrich, who is now in his eighty-third year. He has continued in the work from the very beginning, and others have served for long periods. One member of the committee, now on his way to the homeland, has not had a furlough for more than twenty years. Dr. Spencer Lewis, of Shanghai, participated in the work for more than fifteen years. This new translation will be known as “The Revised Mandarin Bible.” The version will go forth to more human beings than any other translation of the Bible that has ever been made. There has long been great need for this translation into the national language of the Chinese people.

Was ever more time spent or more trouble taken in the preparation of any book? The missionaries of the gospel have undoubtedly performed a noteworthy task in completing such an important work and the results in souls won for Christ will abundantly repay the time and money expended on it.

Rallying Together

By F.

THE following item which appeared in the daily papers on April 13 should be of exceptional interest to all Bible students:—

The Sheikh-ul-Islam has issued a proclamation urging the faithful to rally round the Sultan’s standard. He denounces the Nationalists as Turkey’s worst enemies, and states they will probably cause an outbreak of civil war.

The proclamation indicts the Nationalists for raising rebel levies, and oppressing, robbing and murdering the Sultan’s subjects, thereby causing the cutting off of Constantinople from the Ottoman Empire. It calls upon all Moslems to rally to the Sultan’s standard. It places Nationalists under an interdict of faith.

Another proclamation, banning Bolshevism, is expected in a few days.

Damad Ferid Pasha, the Grand Vizier, has issued a communique, in which he bluntly asserts that the people’s worst enemies are those who, under the mask of Nationalism, sacrifice their country to their personal ambitions.

This call to rally round the Sultan is of particular importance in these days when the position of the Sultan, both religiously and politically, is at stake. The new Arab nation has set itself up as the true heart of Islam, with its king as “Commander of the Faithful,” a title which he has taken to himself not merely because he is the possessor of Mohammedanism’s “holy” cities—Mecca and Medina,—but also because he is a direct descendant of the great false prophet, Mohammed.

On the response, then, to this rallying call depends a great deal. As the quotation says, it might mean civil war in Turkey, but the probable result will be a true rallying together of all Moslems. With such a result the Bible is in full accord, for it prophesies a time in the not far distant future when the “Christian” nations of civilisation will be fighting for their very existence against the hordes of heathenism which come from the East. F.

The Voice of a Holy Life

“A HOLY life has a voice. It speaks when the tongue is silent, and is either a constant attraction or a continual reproof.”

The Lord Pitieth Those Who Fear Him

“THE Lord pitieth them that fear Him.” When sick, He comforts them; when they have fallen, He raiseth them; when they have offended, upon their submission He forgives them; and when they are wronged, His power rights them.”

The Ministration of Death

By R. Hare

R. HARE

SOMETIMES in reading the divine record the human mind reads its own thoughts rather than the thoughts of God. Preconceived ideas, crude limitations, and theological bias all tend to reveal themselves in our reading, as well as in our expositions, of the Word.

Paul’s lesson on the “ministration of death” has often been subjected to misunderstanding and misinterpretation in this way. Yet men need not misinterpret the Book of life, for God has promised to be His own expositor.

In this passage (2 Cor. 3:7-14) three things stand out prominently: the “ministration,” the law “on stone,” and the “glory.” The ministration has to do with the death-penalties demanded by the law engraven on stone, while the “glory” speaks of the splendour associated with the face of Moses when he came from the mountain after talking with God.

Let it be clearly understood that the “ministration” of this passage is not the law. The Greek word is διακονία (diakonia) and signifies, “ministering, ministration, service, office, serving.”—Young. The same word, in both the original and authorised text is found in Acts 6:1. Here it has the idea of serving or dealing out provisions. In the statement made by Paul, it carries the same thought, only it is the dealing out of the death-penalty demanded by the law, rather than the dealing out of bread.

The law referred to was the Sinai writ, engraven on the adamantine slabs and given to Moses at the close of his forty days’ conference with Deity. The “glory” lay in the splendour that flooded the person and face of the Hebrew mediator as he returned to converse with men. So bright was that glory that the uncovered eyes of Israel might not gaze upon the man from whom they had been so long separated. The reflection of that glory scene is still pictured in the halo that the artist throws round the head of his hero.

Two of these things passed away. The “ministration”—the serving out of death—was superseded by the “ministration of life.” Under the theocracy of Israel the death penalty was direct and often immediate. But under the gospel the death-dealing hand is stayed and Jehovah declares, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” Life is now offered as direct to the offender as justice demanded death before. This is through the ministration of the Spirit.

Again the “glory” passed away. When Moses came from the Mount bearing the immutable tables, there was an awfulness about his “ministration” that challenged the heart of all Israel. And there was a glory enshrouding the person of the man who walked as the divine executor which required a veil to be drawn that the glory might not destroy.

But that glory faded, and after a time the people of Israel walked and talked with Moses as before. Paul speaks of “the glory that excelleth”; while Peter points to the “excellent glory.” 2 Peter 1:16-18. This was another mountain scene. Hermon is the place chosen this time for the revelation. The “glory that excelleth” was a reality, and it flooded and enfolded the Mediator of the New Covenant who in His ministration offers life to the transgressor.

But let the reader notice that the offering of life and righteousness under the glory of Christ’s ministration does not in any way invalidate the writ from Sinai. Sin is still the transgression of the law, and the deferring of the death-penalty to a later time does not in any way lessen the exaction, for still—“The wages of sin is death.”

Under the Old Covenant, made with Israel, there was no stipulation concerning the forgiveness of sin. But under the “ministration that excelleth in glory” Jehovah has pledged Himself to forgiveness in the words: “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Heb. 10:16, 17. But the fact that sin must still be forgiven demonstrates that the law “engraven on stone” still exists, for sin is the transgression of the law.

The change of ministration has in no wise changed the law, for under the New Covenant that law is to be written on the fleshly tables of the heart. But if this is done, it must be a transcript from the stone law of Sinai—God has no other law. Heb. 8:10.

Under the gospel God permits the transgressor to live on, but it is with the hope that he will learn to obey that holy law, the transgression of which brings death. Forgiveness, righteousness, and eternal life are all offered by Heaven, but for the man who will not accept, the death penalty remains.

In the path of loving obedience there is life. Choose life and live! Then the glory that excelleth will be yours also. I Peter 5:4.

The Millennial Reign of Christ

By W. R. Carswell

W. R. CARSWELL

1. Where is the definite period of one thousand years in our world’s history (called the millennium) mentioned?—In Rev. 20:1-9.

2. What events mark the beginning and close of the one thousand year period?—Two resurrections. Rev. 20:5.

3. What class is raised in the first resurrection?—The blessed and holy. Rev. 20:6.

4. Who is the Lifegiver in the first resurrection?—The Lord Jesus. I Thess. 4:16, 17.

5. Is this also true of the second?—Yes. John 5:28, 29.

6. How are the ungodly affected by the Lord’s presence, and that of His angels?—2 Thess. 1:6-8; 2:8.

Note.—The presence of one angel at the tomb of Jesus caused the Roman guard to fall like dead men. When Jesus comes and “all the holy angels with Him,” all the unholy will actually perish. See Matt. 25:31; Rev. 19:19-21.

7. Has a prophet of God been given a view of that time in vision?—Yes. Jer. 4:23-27.

8. What causes the destruction and desolation of the earth?—The presence of the Lord. Verse 26. See also Zeph. 1:17, 18.

Note.—Jeremiah says “there was no man,” and Zephaniah says God will “make a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” Hence the earth will be desolated in “the day of the Lord.” Now is “the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2); but in the day of the Lord the time of salvation will be past. “The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.” Isa. 2:11, 12.

9. What causes the shaking of the mountains and hills mentioned by the prophet Jeremiah?—The greatest earthquake ever known, which occurs under the seventh plague. Rev. 16:17-21.

10. Of what are the seven last plagues a manifestation?—Of God’s unmingled wrath, because the time of salvation will then be past. See Rev. 14:9, 10; 15:1.

11. In connection with the earthquake which removes every mountain and island, what great event takes place?—The coming of the Lord in awful glory. Rev. 6:14-17.

12. As the saints are caught up to meet the Lord at His coming, and the wicked are slain, who alone remain on the earth?—Satan and his evil host. Rev. 20:1, 2.

Note.—Satan is cast into the abussos (as the Greek reads); but this is the word used in the Greek Old Testament for the desolate earth, before life was created upon it. The English word in Gen. 1:2 is “deep,” and clearly applies to the desolate earth. Here Satan will dwell during the thousand years.

13. Where are the saints taken at the coming of the Lord?—To the mansions prepared in heaven. John 14:1-3; Rev. 19:1.

Note.—After the judgments of God on Babylon, which represents the wicked world (Rev. 18:2-4), the prophet John saw the redeemed “in heaven,” praising God for His just judgments upon apostate men. Rev. 19:1, 2.

14. In what work will the saints be engaged “in heaven” during the thousand years?—In a work of judgment. They will judge wicked men and angels. Rev. 20:4; 1 Cor. 6:2, 3; 4:5.

15. At the expiration of the thousand years, how is Satan affected? What causes the change?—Satan is loosed by the reversal of the conditions prevailing during the millennium; viz., the return of the saints, and the resurrection of the wicked. Rev. 20:7, 5.

16. Where will Jesus stand when He comes at the end of the thousand years?

What place is thus prepared?—Jesus will stand on the Mount of Olives, which will cleave asunder, forming a great plain, on which the New Jerusalem will rest. Zech. 14:4, 5; Rev. 21:2.

Note.—Those who will flee in terror from the glory of Christ are the wicked, who will be raised by the Lifegiver at that time.

17. As Satan will then again have material on which to work, what does he immediately do?—He deceives the resurrected nations of sinners into the belief that they may yet capture the New Jerusalem, and overcome the Lord and His saints. Rev. 20:7-9.

18. What is their final end as pictured by the holy prophets?—Eternal death or destruction. Ps. 37:10, 11, 20; Mal. 4:1-3; 2 Thess. 1:9; Matt. 13:41, 42.

Note.—The wicked are compared to combustibles such as fat, stubble, etc. The fire is said to “devour” them; to consume them “into smoke”; to “burn them up” “root and branch”; to punish them with “everlasting destruction”; to bring them “to ashes.” Satan, the root, and his followers, the branches, of the tree of sin will be consumed together.

19. Where will the Lord and His saints then reign forever?—On the earth. Matt. 13:43; Dan. 7:27; Rev. 11:15.

20. From the above scriptures, where will the Lord reign during the thousand years?—In heaven, for there is no scripture that informs us that He will reign one thousand years on earth. When His reign on earth begins, it is to continue to all eternity. But during the thousand years’ reign, Christ with His saints will decide the just punishment of all who have rejected Him.

Continue reading: Reading the World's Barometer