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Chosen no: R-4304 a, from: 1909 Year. |
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He Ascended Up On High
--ACTS 1:1-14.--JANUARY
3.--
Golden Text:--"And it came to
pass, while
he blessed them, he was parted from them,
and was carried up into heaven."--Luke 24:51.
THE Sunday-School Committee has arranged lessons for 1909 on the
expansion of the early Church. Accordingly, our lessons for the year will be
drawn principally from the book styled The Acts of the Apostles. St. Luke is
the author of this, which some have described as the best of all Church
histories. As the record closes abruptly, before the death of St. Paul, it is
but reasonably supposed that the Book was finished about A.D. 63. The first
verse of our lesson alludes to his previously written work, the Gospel by St.
Luke, in which he set forth what Jesus began to do and to teach. There is a
bare suggestion that the writer had in mind that his present treatise related
to a continuation of our Lord's work by his holy Spirit through his apostles
and followers. This standpoint of view given is a glorious sweep or vista and
connects up the work which our Lord began at Jordan and finished at Calvary,
and has since been carrying on by his Spirit and through his Church, and will
continue to the consummation of the Church, which is his Body, and its
glorification in the Kingdom, and the Kingdom blessing then to go forth to the
blessing and uplifting of man. The small beginning, the trials and triumphs of
the work, are yet to yield the abundant fruitage expressed in the declaration
that unto Jesus every knee must bow and every tongue confess to the glory of
God, the Father. And whosoever will not thus bow and confess and yield obedience
to the Messianic Kingdom, will be utterly "destroyed from amongst his
people"--in "the Second Death."
"St. Luke, a poet, and more than a poet, tells us how the beacon
light of Christianity flashed from Jerusalem to Antioch--from Antioch to
Ephesus, and to Troas, and to Philippi--from Philippi to Athens and Corinth,
until at last it was kindled in the very palace and pretorium of the Caesars at
imperial Rome. The light of the world dawned from the little Judean village and
brightened in the Galilean hills, and then it seemed to set upon Golgotha in
the midst of a disastrous eclipse. The Book of Acts shows us how, rekindled
from the embers in the brief space of thirty years, it has gleamed over Aegea
and over Hadria, and has filled Asia and Greece and Italy, with such Light as
has never shone before on land or sea."--Farrar. [R4305
: page 5]
This is a beautiful description, yet we need to modify it to the extent
of remembering that the Son of Righteousness did not dawn there, but is only
now dawning. Our Lord's expression was the truer one, namely, that each one of
his followers was a lamp or candle lighted from his, which must not be put
under a bushel, but elevated, that the darkness might be dispelled. It was the
lighting of fresh candles, so to speak, that carried the enlightening blessing.
God's Word is the Lamp for his people, to guide their steps and, as they become
illuminated, the world is proportionately blessed. "Thy Word is a lamp
unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psa. 119:105.) "We have
also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as
unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn."--2 Pet.
1:19.
HE SHOWED HIMSELF ALIVE
Briefly the historian reminds us of the forty days between our Lord's
resurrection and his ascension, that he showed himself to his apostles and gave
them certain instructions respecting the holy Spirit; that they should wait for
its endowment, as the Father's seal of their acceptance to membership in the
Royal Priesthood and to the ministries of the Truth as his ambassadors. All of
these instructions, etc., were "pertaining to the Kingdom of God." This
central thought needs to be kept in mind. God's Kingdom has been promised--
that it may overthrow the kingdom of Satan and deliver mankind from the bondage
of sin and death. Messiah was to be the King, and Israel, the seed of Abraham,
to be his assistants and joint-heirs in that Kingdom and its work. Natural
Israel had proven unworthy of the favor, as God had foretold through the prophets,
and the privileges taken from them were to be given to the remnant of
"Israelites indeed," and a sufficient number from amongst the
Gentiles to complete the number Divinely intended and foreordained. Properly,
therefore, everything said and done, directly or indirectly, appertained to the
Kingdom.
As St. Luke, in his Gospel, has set forth the personality of Jesus as
the Magnet to draw the hopes and establish the confidence of the
"Israelites indeed," so in the Acts he uses it to still point to our
Lord as the central figure, the Magnet. Indeed, seen from the standpoint of the
Resurrected, the Glorified One, highly exalted, far above principalities and
powers, the magnetic qualities of the Messianic personality are greatly
enhanced. While never forgetting his earthly life and sacrifices, our hearts
and minds look to him now as the one who ever liveth, the Head of the Church,
the King of Glory, waiting for the completion of his Bride, and in due time to
take possession of earth's dominion, and to begin the great work of
Restitution.
It is as important today as ever that we keep before our minds the
thought of our Lord's personal relationship to every feature of his work. If it
was his message to the early Church to remember his words, "Lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the Age," the [R4305 :
page 6] thought of the Lord's personal presence now in the harvest should
be still more impressive to us. If he kept a supervision or control of all the
affairs of his people throughout the Age, does not the thought of his Second
Coming and still more intimate association with every little detail of what is
planned make us rejoice to be more careful, more zealous? To the extent that we
are able to keep this clearly before our minds, it will make us happy in
respect to right fighting and right doing. For instance, should the Adversary
make suggestions to us of discontent or dissatisfaction with the manner in
which things pertaining to the Lord's people have been progressing, let us
answer him that we know he is mistaken, because the Lord himself is present and
is supervising his work. If at any time matters seem to be going contrary to
our hopes or expectations, let us not think the Lord has neglected the
supervision of his work and is allowing the Adversary to dash it to pieces. On
the contrary, let us establish our hearts in the fact that the Lord is too wise
to err and is as able as he is willing to make all things work together for
good to us and to all the called ones, according to his purpose. If tempted to
intermeddle with matters that the Lord has put into the hands of another, let
this thought restrain us and counsel us to give closer attention to that which
the Master has committed to our care, and that "To his own Master each
servant stands or falls," and it is for him to approve or disapprove. It
is not, therefore, for us to grasp management or control or in any degree to
force our views upon others, but rather to do our part as faithfully as
possible, and to leave the results to the Lord, realizing his presence and his
care, his wisdom and his love.
WAIT FOR THE PROMISE
The holy Spirit had been promised and must be waited for as the
realization and beginning of the new work, the development of the Christian
Church. This was pictured to them as a baptism and immersion with the holy
Spirit, and contrasted with John's baptism or immersion in water. This baptism
of the holy Spirit would represent to them the fact that he died for human sin,
had been received into the Father's presence and had offered of his merit on
behalf of those who believed in him and accepted him. It would constitute the
sign, evidently, or mark, not only that their sins were forgiven, but that
their consecration had been accepted, and that they were now adopted into God's
family, begotten of him as spiritual sons, who, if they would develop in
harmony with their covenant, in the School of Christ, would, in due time, be
born of the spirit in the resurrection to the divine nature.
It was while they were with him and being instructed in things
pertaining to the Kingdom, and regarding the necessity for tarrying for the
spirit baptism, that they asked the Lord an important question: "Lord,
wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel?" But he
replied, "It is not for you to know the times or seasons, which the Father
hath put in his own power," or authority.
The disciples understood well enough that the restoration of Israel to a
place of influence and power as a nation would be an incident of our Lord's
great triumph in taking the dominion of earth, but they did not fully
comprehend, for this Gospel Age, has been, as it were, a parenthesis, in which
the Bride Class has been in course of selection from amongst all mankind. They
perceived that the Master was leaving them and were anxious for information,
but in substance they were told that they could see but one step in advance and
that they must walk by faith and not by sight. Elsewhere we are informed that
our Lord told his followers that not only no man knew the day and hour marking
the developments of the Divine Purpose in connection with the opening of the
new dispensation, but neither did the angels in heaven, nor our Lord Jesus;
that the Father had kept the whole matter in his own hands, in his own power. This
is better illustrated in the symbolism of Revelation, fifth chapter, where the
Divine Plan is represented as sealed, and given to our Lord after his
demonstration of his faithfulness at Calvary and his ascension to glory. Nothing
in the statement, however, implies that our Lord and his disciples and the
angels of heaven would never know of the times and seasons. In due time each
feature will be revealed to those for whom it would be "meat in due
season," for "To you it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom
of God, but to outsiders all these things are spoken in parables."
But while the due time had not come for the apostles to understand the
particulars of the restitution of Israel, etc., other knowledge and other work
were awaiting, as soon as the Father marked them by the outpouring of the holy
Spirit. It was not due time then to discuss matters that were a long way in
advance. The thing immediately in hand was their work of witnessing for Jesus,
of telling out all that they knew about him, that others might know and be
blessed through their ministries. In due time they would not be confined to
Jerusalem and Judea, but might go to Samaria, yea, and to the uttermost parts
of the earth; for eventually the message would be for every creature.
The word here rendered witnesses is in the Greek, martyres, from which
comes our English word martyr, signifying those who witness at a cost of
suffering or death. It may have seemed strange to the apostles that the telling
of the good tidings would cost them suffering, and it may seem still more
strange to us today that the proclamation of the true Gospel of Christ should
bring persecution and call for martyrdom. But it is true, and the Master
explained the reason, saying, "The darkness hateth the light." The
world in general, including Christendom, is more or less under the Adversary's
delusions, and whoever is faithful in telling the message of the Lord in its
length and breadth will speedily find opposition where least he might have
expected it. The goodness of God, his love, and the length and breadth and
height and depth of his Plan of Salvation are so foreign to the benighted mind
that it induces persecution, because the Truth is stranger than the fiction. A
lesson here for us is that this witnessing is not yet finished, and that to
meet our Lord's approval as his representatives we must be martyrs to one
degree or another. The more faithful we are, probably the more we shall have
opportunity for suffering and correspondingly will be our share in the eternal
weight of glory, which God has in reservation for those that thus love him and
serve him.
SO COME IN LIKE MANNER
While speaking our Lord began to ascend and soon a cloud had enveloped
and hid him from their sight. They waited, looking as though expecting him to
descend again, but instead two angels appeared and said, "Why stand ye
gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is received up from you into
heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." (Acts
1:11.) The statement is not that they would see him coming as they saw him go,
for surely they did not. They died. And not until after he had [R4306 : page 7] come again could their awakening, their
resurrection, take place. Nor did the angels say that any one would see him
coming. They merely declared a great fact, that he would so come, and that his
coming would be in like manner to his going. Noting this carefully we ask
ourselves, What will be the manner of his second coming? The answer is that as
his departure was quiet, secret, unknown to the world, known only to his most
intimate and dear followers, so his second coming will be in like manner--not
with shouts and voices and trumpets, but secretly, quietly, "As a thief in
the night."
W.T. R-4304 a : page 5 – 1909 r.