Pastor David B. Curtis
Pastor David B. Curtis
Our relation to the Kingdom of God. The first resurrection continuous in its results. Death is to us what the Second Advent was to the first Christians - In 70 A.D.the condition of the really saintly believer immediately after death became more blessed than it had been at any previous period of the world's history. Abraham " saw " the day of Christ's kingly triumph and was glad (John viii. 56), but died ere it came. The other Old Testament saints also "died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar " (Heb. xi. 13). From the time when these servants of God left the earth, until the coming of the King and of the Kingdom in 70 A. D., they remained in Paradise, the garden or outer court of heaven. Paradise bears the same relation to heaven itself as the Holy place in the earthly tabernacle and temple did to the Holy of holies. The Old Testament saints had been there in a state of imperfect sanctification and imperfect happiness ; for apart from the believers of the primitive Christian church it was not possible for them to be made perfect (Heb. xi. 39, 40). [1]
Jesus was the first human being to penetrate through the veil, and stand as man's representative in the innermost sanctuary of heaven. In 70 A.D. He returned to take the saints of previous ages from the intermediate state of Paradise, and introduce them (along with the living saints who had been caught up to meet Him in the air) into the presence of their God and Father. [2] From that day onward, truly consecrated Christians have had at death a great advantage over their predecessors. A peculiar blessedness belongs to the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth (Rev. xiv. 13). In their case there is no delay, [3] but they enter at once the innermost sanctuary of heaven and enjoy at once the full rest and inheritance that await the people of God. Since the Kingdom is already in existence, having been established in heaven in 70 A.D., the probability is that ever since it has been receiving constant accessions to its numbers by the transference from earth, at death, of really saintly and consecrated believers ; the crown of glory hereafter being the reverse side of the cross truly and manfully carried here for Christ, and having no possible existence in separation therefrom. In that case, death, which in the nature of the case is certain to come to us ere " this generation " passes away and may come at any moment, bears to us the same relation as the Second Advent did to the primitive Christians. The question of our admission to the Kingdom of heaven (as joint-heirs with Christ) or our eternal exclusion therefrom depends on whether or not, at the time the summons comes to us, we are living earnest and prayerful lives. When Christ's body lay in the grave, it is certain that all the powers of evil-the spiritual hosts of wickedness, Paul calls them-would be leagued together in the effort to prevent Him from rising. Hence, in the New Testament, our Lord's resurrection is represented as an act of triumph not only over Hades and the grave, but also over him that had the power of death-that is, the devil (Heb. ii.14). And this twofold victory Christ achieved not for Himself only but also for His faithful people in every age. At the Second Advent and first resurrection the primitive saints shared in it to the very utmost, and had death and all the powers of evil put for ever beneath their feet. This is a pledge of what is possible for us. Whether when we leave this world we attain to the same great joy and the same perfect deliverance will depend on the sort of lives we have been leading. Here is a lesson of solemn significance for each of us. If at death we are found faithful and true, then we shall be exempt from Hades and the intermediate state, and have an entrance into the Kingdom itself immediately and abundantly administered to us. Otherwise we shall have sold for the passing pleasures of earth the birthright which is ours as sons of God, and we shall be excluded from the innermost sanctuary of heaven. [4]
Christianity in its primitive purity and simplicity - We see the necessity for going back to the fountain head of our religion and drawing a broad line of demarcation between the Christianity of Jesus and His apostles and that of subsequent ags. There was ground for the anxiety of the apostle Paul when he said I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ " (2 Cor. xi. 3). At the heart of every ecclesiastical system since the destruction of Jerusalem has lain an enormous error -a denial of some of the plainest words that Christ ever spoke. Degeneracy in life and doctrine was not merely something which arose within the church in the course of the third and fourth centuries.
Already in the lifetime of the apostles a great falling away from the faith had taken place (1 John ii. 19). The misdeeds and doctrinal errors of the professedly Christian church of the last 1800 years) are partly explained by the fact that (except so far as it was influenced by the survival, for a time of the apostle John) it has been the successor, and, to a large extent, the spiritual representative, of the foolish virgins -those primitive believers who failed to watch and pray in anticipation of their Master's return, and who stand condemned from the very fact that they were left behind on earth when the Lord took the wise virgins home to heaven.
The Sabbath -The coming of the Christ at the destruction of Jerusalem was the consummation of a great epoch in the history of the world. The Mosaic dispensation then terminated, and the special forms and rules of the Mosaic law for ever passed away, the eternal principles of right, and wrong, which it had embodied, alone surviving under the changed circumstances. This explains the transference of the Sabbath from the end of the week to the beginning. The obligation to observe one day's rest in seven is written deep in the necessities of human nature, and will endure so long as the world lasts. [5] But there is nothing inherently right or wrong in observing any one particular day rather than another. During the Jewish dispensation the enduring principle found temporary form and expression in the command to observe the end of the week. The choice of the seventh day served to remind the Jews of God's cessation from the work of creation, and to point forward to that Sabbath rest in heaven into which His faithful people would enter when the Christ should come to establish His Kingdom (Heb. iv. 11). At the Second Advent, that Sabbath rest was realised by the primitive saints, and it still continues in existence. At the same time, all that was temporary and arbitrary in the Mosaic law was formally, and for ever, abrogated. There was nothing to indicate that the seventh day must still be kept as the Sabbath. Yet the obligation to observe one day of rest in the week remained, and will remain to the end of time. The destruction of Jerusalem made it manifest that the observance of the Mosaic law, in its entirety, had become an impossibility. Christians, therefore, doubtless felt, themselves at full liberty to observe their weekly rest on the day that reminded them of their Master's resurrection from the grave, and of the descent of the Holy Spirit from heaven. Further, under the Jewish dispensation, arbitrary and external distinctions had existed by which some men, some places, and some seasons were less (or more,) holy than others. But the coming of the Christ to terminate that dispensation proves that all such arbitrary and external distinctions were then swept, away. Henceforth, standing as we do, each moment, in the immediate presence of the risen and living Jesus, to whom the whole of our time belongs, we are under a solemn obligation to keep holy seven days in the week.
Why have miracles ceased ? The exceptional character of the apostolic age - The great truth for which we contend emphasises the exceptional character not only of the Jewish dispensation but also of the period that intervened between Christ's first and second advents. God's elect people who were to form the church of the first-born (Heb. xii. 23 ; James i. 18) were to be gathered out from among all nations in the lifetime of a single generation. To effect this result the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost in an altogether abnormal manner and measure. The gift of prophecy, the gift of tongues, and the power to work miracles, abounded among primitive believers (1 Cor. xii. 8-10 ; xiv. 26). The Lord confirmed the word by the signs that followed (Mark xvi. 20). In 1 Cor. xiii. 8. (" Love never faileth ; but whether there be prophecies they shall be done away; whether there be tongues they shall cease ; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away ") Paul definitely taught that these wonders were not to prove permanent, and (verse 11) that even while they lasted, compared with the realisation of perfect love to God and perfect love to our fellow men, they were like the attainments of childhood. compared with those of full manhood. Accordingly there can be but little doubt that Christ's advent at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem to receive into the Kingdom the church of the firstborn, terminated an altogether exceptional state of things which had prevailed since the day of Pentecost, and caused these abnormal miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit to cease.
Faith healing and prayer - This fact gives the reason why in these days 'the prayer of faith' although never without a rich reward does not always avail to restore a sick man to health, even when he is anointed with oil in the name of the Lord. [6]
So also with respect to prayer generally. Regard for truth compels us to recognise the absolutely unlimited nature of some of the promises given by our Lord to His apostles. Again and again He assured them that whatsoever they might ask the Father in His name, they would be certain to receive. [7] It is true that, in every age, believershave discovered, within their own experience, the blessed results that come from persistent prayer when it has been accompanied by faith in God's goodness and wisdom. They have had reason to give thanks for the peace and guidance and strength which have become theirs as the direct answer to petitions presented in Christ's name, beside the granting of much else that they have asked for. Yet, it is clear that, unless we make certain qualifications rendered necessary by the difference in the circumstances of the case, we who live outside the apostolic age cannot rightly claim the full fulfilinent of this particular form of the promise. We may ask, and we do ask, for many foolish things, hurtful to ourselves or to others, which God in His wisdom denies to us -things which it is probable that the apostles to whom the promise was addressed (enjoying, as they they did, a special and pre-eminent measure of the enlightening and Sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit) would not have sought. [See Appendix G., page 195.]
The Sermon on the mount - Paul's advice to his converts to abstain from marriage (1 Cor. vii. 26-31) derived its force and significance from the unparalleled distress of the times at which he wrote, and from the fact that the ties which bound his readers to the earth were in many cases destined to be severed, at latest, at the advent of the Christ a very few years afterwards. And the appropriateness of Paul's refusal to allow women to teach in the church (I Tim. ii. 12) is at once recognised as having arisen from the special standards of decorum that prevailed in the world at the time he wrote. From the exceptional and parenthetic character of the apostolic age it is reasonable also to infer that many authoritative cornmands recorded in the New Testament only remained in force, in the precise form in which they were given, until the Lord came at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. They do not, on that account, lose their value and importance for succeeding generations. A new condition of things having arisen, the temporary rule gives place to the enduring principle. The special form passes away, but the spirit of the command lives and lives for ever. Thus from our Lord's command to His first disciples that they were not to resist ill treatment, but when smitten on the right cheek to turn the other also (Matt. v. 39)-a command which, it is probable, was literally understood and obeyed by them-we learn the eternal obligation of curbing anger and resentment, and of never retaliating for retaliation sake. The apostolic communism, [8] and Christ's plain injunction that those to whom He spoke were to give to every beggar and lend to all who might wish to borrow of them, [9] teach us to recognise in the wants of even the poorest and humblest of our fellow men a continual claim on our sympathy and assistance. The fac that the first Christians were absolutely forbidden to accumulate money or any other form of earthly wealth, [10] and that the young ruler was bidden to part with all that he had and reduce himself to abject poverty, [11] reminds us that no true servant of Christ, in any age, can ever rightly accumulate money for its own sake. Every really consecrated believer, whether rich or poor, must in his heart renounce all for the Saviour, even through the renunciation may not take the outward and visible form in which it was demanded from the young ruler and from others of the early Christians. [12] Paul, again, writing with divine authority, forbade the women of the primitive church to wear jewellery or expensive dresses, or to braid their hair.[13] Under the changed circumstances in which we live, theprohibition has doubtless lost something of its force, but it still teaches the duty of simplicity of dress and the avoidance of needless display. Finally, modern preachers when travelling may rightly question whether it be God's will that they should imitate the apostles in making no provision whatever for the journey [14] but simply be satisfied with the food which will come to them in the providence of God. [15] Yet the instructions on the subject, given to the apostles, may well remind us that to the end of time excessive anxiety as to food and dress will always be irreconcilable with childlike confidence in Him who numbers the very hairs of our heads.
[1] Concerning the complete salvation which came to earnest and watchful members of the primitive church at the revelation of Jesus Christ, the ancient prophets had sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace which was then to come; searching what time and what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point to, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories which were to follow. And to them it was revealed that not unto themselves but to the believers of the primitive Christian church did they minister those things. See I Peter i. 7-12.
[2] Possibly these Old Testament saints were the "other sheep" of whom Christ said: "Them also must I bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one shepherd " (John x. 16).
[3] The gates of Hades do not prevail against them (Matt. xvi. 18), i.e. they are not detained in the intermediate state for a single moment.
[4] Compare the exclusion from Canaan of the Israelites who came out from Egypt (Numbers xiv. 23, 29). " I desire to put you in remembrance how that the Lord having saved a people out of Egypt afterward destroyed them that believed not " (Jude 5).
[5] Works of mercy, however, and of real necessity are an exception to the general rule (Matt. xii. 1-13).
[6] "Is any among you sick ? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins it shall be forgiven him " (James v. 14-15).
[7] "And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive " Matt. xxi. 22). "All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them " (Mark xi. 24). "Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name, that will I do" (John xiv. 13-14). "Ye did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name He may give it you " (John xv. 16).
[8] "And all that believed were to-other, and had all things common. And they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all according as any man had need " (Acts ii. 44-45). "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul. And not one said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own ; but they had all things common " (Acts iv. 32).
[9] "Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow fromo thee turn not thou away " (Matt. v. 42).
[10] " Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust doth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also " (Matt. vi. 19-21).
[11] "Sell all that thou hast, and distribute to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven " (Luke xviii. 22).
[12] "Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief draweth nigh neither moth destroyeth " (Luke xii. 32, 33).
[13] "That women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety; not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly raiment; but (which becometh women professing godliness) through good works " (I Tim. ii. 9, 10).
[14] Circumstances alter cases! On the eve of His death, Jesus said to His disciples : "When I sent you forth without purse and wallet and shoes, lacked ye anything ? And they said, Nothing. And He said unto them, But now, he that hath a purse let him take it, and likewise a wallet, and he that hath no sword, let him sell his cloke and buy one!" (Luke xxii. 35,36.)
[15] "Get you no gold, nor silver, nor brass, in your purses ; no wallet for your journey, neither two coats nor shoes nor staff ; for the labourer is worthy of his food " (Matt. x. 10, Revised Bible).