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Chosen no: R-5815 a, from: 1915 Year. |
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Upheld In The
"He shall give His angels [messengers] charge
concerning thee,
to guard thee in all thy ways; they shall bear thee up in
their hands, lest thou dash thy foot
against a stone." -- Psalm 91:11-12.
THE introduction of this Psalm seems clearly to indicate that it applies
exclusively to the consecrated people of God during the Gospel Age, the
spirit-begotten ones--those who abide under the shadow of the Almighty, in the
secret place of Jehovah. This same thought is represented symbolically in the
typical Tabernacle. The secret place where the saints abide is the Holy. None
were allowed to enter the typical Holy and Most Holy except the high priest and
the under priests. All of the people of Israel, so far as they were living
in close harmony with this arrangement, were blessed. But the secret place, the Holy, is the one referred to in this Psalm.
Coming down to Jesus' day, we see that He was the first to enter the
antitypical Holy and the Most Holy. He entered the first of the Holies when He
offered up Himself at Jordan.
When He made His consecration at baptism, instantly He was in the Holy, instead
of being outside in the Court. If He would abide in the Holy and continue under
the Shadow of the Almighty, all of God's providences would be favorable to Him
and all things would work together for His good. So when Jesus had finished His
course victoriously, He passed beyond the Second Veil, and entered into Heaven
itself--the Most Holy. (Hebrews 6:19,20; 9:24.)
While in the flesh He was kept in all His ways; He was guarded of God, and not
suffered to be tempted above that which He was able to bear. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the Father revealed Himself
in some manner not specifically stated, except that we are told that angels
came and ministered unto the Master. God "maketh His angels spirits; His
ministers a flaming fire."--Psalm 104:4.
God can use anything or anybody as His agency, His messenger. But there
were very few of the human family in Jesus' day capable of being used as God's
comforting angels to our Lord. Mary of Bethany was one of these, who, just
prior to the Master's crucifixion, anointed His feet with a fragrant, costly
perfume, and wiped them with her hair. She was one who gave Him consolation
when His mind was agitated with the thought that five days thence He would be
crucified. He realized that none of the people understood, that none of them
were able to enter into His feelings. But Mary's service was very precious to
the Lord--very encouraging to Him.
SUBTLE TESTINGS PECULIAR
TO OUR DAY
So the Lord has also used spirits--angels--and at times various other
agencies, human beings and even the powers of nature, as His ministers. If the
Father were wishing to send some message to us, His children, He could use the
electric power that we are learning to use in wireless telegraphy and
telephony. But He has not chosen to use this power as His messenger to speak to
us directly. Our text gives us the thought, however, that the Lord's special
supervision is over all His saints, the class which He has been selecting since
Pentecost, with a view to their preparation for the Heavenly Kingdom
through growth in the graces of the Spirit. But we see that this Psalm as a
whole has a special application to our day, when "a thousand shall
fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand," and when the
pestilence shall be abroad. When pestilence is in the air, it inoculates a
person without his being conscious of the fact, and it is thus that we,
"the feet" members of the Body of Christ, are exposed to special
trials and dangers--spiritual pestilence.
This is the time to which all the prophets pointed as a time of special
persecution. In the past there have been times of persecution to the professed
people of God; but they were times when the right was more manifest, when a
sharp line was drawn between the right and the wrong. When the question was
raised, "Will you serve the Lord, or will you serve Baal?" it was not
difficult to see the right and decide, "I will be on the Lord's
side." In the days of the early Church, the question was, "Will you
curry favor with the Roman power, or will you suffer persecution by following
Christ?" It was Christ or the Emperor. Still later down, when the question
was as to one's choice between one denomination or another, the issue was
clearly drawn: "Am I on God's side, or am I on the side of the
Adversary?" But during the past forty years the differences between the
denominations have been practically ignored.
Sometimes those who were being persecuted were somewhat to blame for their
persecution; for they held errors that were more or less atrocious. But all the
way down, the trials and temptations were, it would appear, less subtle than
they are at the present time. Today these [R5816 :
page 374] great denominations that formerly fought one another are
trying to be one body. It would seem on the surface as though the Millennium
had come, and that the lion and the lamb were lying down together. In general
there seems to be among Christian people a feeling of amity and a desire to do
good rather than evil. The cases in which violent persecution is indulged are
far between, and not appreciated by the masses.
For the past forty years, then, there has been a condition that is
constituting a crucial test to all Christian people. The subtle doctrines of
Spiritism, of Christian Science, of Theosophy, and of New Thought of different
kinds, are prevalent. Likewise the theory of Evolution is widely proclaimed.
Learned men formulated the theory of Evolution, and then the Higher Critics
began to pull the Bible to pieces, because of "the oppositions of science,
falsely so-called." (1 Timothy 6:20.) These false theories have
constituted a miasma that has spread in every direction. There are four hundred
millions of Christians, according to some; seven or eight hundred millions,
according to other authorities. These include all the infants, the
feeble-minded and the insane. Whether they are one minute old or fifty years
old, they are reckoned members of the Church, if they have had certain drops of
water sprinkled on their heads and certain words said over them.
But amongst the most intelligent of those who name the name of Jesus there
has been a great falling away from the Word of God. This testing has been the
most insidious, the more injurious, because it has come from the theological
seminaries. Thousands have fallen. They are not about to fall, they have
fallen. They have lost all anchorage to the Word of the Lord. Out of the
two hundred thousand professed ministers of Christ, probably not more than ten
per cent. believe in the Bible as the inspired Word of God. Ten per cent. would
be twenty thousand, leaving one hundred and eighty thousand who have fallen
from faith. If they have fallen from faith in the inspiration of the Bible, we
may be sure that they have in a measure fallen from relationship to God. Some
probably never were in relationship with the Lord in any sense.
UNFOUNDED HOPES OF THE MANY
TODAY
What revelation has God made except that given in the Bible? "Having
no hope and without God in the world," represents the condition of the
many. They have hopes of their own, but not a Bible hope. The Theosophists have
[R5816 : page 375] a hope, the Spiritualists
have a hope, the Christian Scientists have a hope, and so have the
Evolutionists; but the hope of all these is without foundation and will surely
fail them in this testing time.
The hope of the Evolutionist is not that he can himself survive
everlastingly; but that, as he learns more day by day, he may be able to beget
better children, who will be more noble of character and more wise of head than
he has been. In turn, these children may be able to live longer and have
children yet more wise and strong. These Evolutionists believe the time will
come in the distant future when their children will be so wise as to be able to
take advantage of all the circumstances of life, and may continue to live
forever. From our viewpoint these people are without God, without hope.
It is true that these ministers speak of Jesus, but the message that they
give is not the Bible Message. They say, indeed, that there was a great deal of
good in the life of Jesus worthy to be copied, that He was a good Example, etc.
We think that they speak after this manner simply for its moral effect upon the
people. If these men lived such a life as Jesus lived, they would reprove the
people and tell them that they are living very foolishly, that they are living
for self and neglecting the Word of God. These same ministers who hold Jesus up
as an Example know very well that it is because of the way that He lived that He died at thirty-three years of age--died instead of living
everlastingly. They admit that He was a very fine character, but the
majority of them have no place in their scheme for His Ransom-sacrifice. And in
urging their people in respect to following the example of Jesus, this class
apparently do not urge them to lay down their lives for the Truth and in the
service of God.
They tell their people not to go to war, unless their country calls them,
and not until the ministers preach it; but that if it ever becomes popular to
go to war, then go to war and make all the cannon possible. Meantime the preachers
will train the little boys, and form of them Boys' Brigades and Boy Scouts. When
war comes, then let the boys be noble Boy Scouts, shoulder their rifles and do
their best to kill. Let them help uphold the war, and fight on their own side. Let
their people care for and help to heal the wounded--all who have not been
killed outright. Let them bind up their wounds, and get them ready as quickly
as possible to go out to the trenches and fight again, and perhaps be killed.
SKEPTICISM NOW RIFE
EVERYWHERE
All this is a confusion of religious instruction. It comes because these
people are fallen from faith in the Bible. Some of them, seeking to hedge when
inquired of on the subject of their faith, will say, "Well, we believe all
the words of Jesus." And some publishers, following along the line of this
growing sentiment, have published New Testaments with the words of Jesus
printed in red text, so that those who wish to read His words alone have there
before them these words lettered in red. But if asked whether they believe in
the words of Jesus in regard to Jonah and the great fish, and in His words
about the Flood in Noah's day, they will retrench and answer, "No; we
believe as much as our minds tell us is reasonable, and we think the rest is
all nonsense." The truth is that they have no real faith in Jesus, nor in
what He declared His life in the flesh was for. They do not believe that
He was a sacrifice for sin, and say so freely. They have fallen from the
position of faith.
Now if the teachers of the people have fallen, what shall we say for
the people themselves, the four hundred millions or the eight hundred millions?
Some have been in one denomination and some in another, but in general the
whole procedure has been to keep them in ignorance. That may not seem to be
strictly true when we think of how many schools and colleges there are. But the
fact is that only a small portion of the people ever get as far as a collegiate
course, or even a high school course. Before that time they are supposed to be
on the side of the deceived ones. Many of our great universities today are
hotbeds of infidelity. Bible Truth is being kept from the people. With the
colleges endowed with millions of money and with learned professors, and the
whole Christian world, so called, under the tutelage of the two hundred
thousand ministers of the nominal church, the wonder is that the people are not
all infidels.
With this view, then, of the past forty years, we see a fulfilment of this
Psalm. We see that thousands and tens of thousands have fallen. We see where they have fallen. We see why they have fallen. We see that the few are standing--"the feet" of Christ. As we look out over the world and
see these thousands, we perceive that the few who have come into
covenant relationship with the Lord are the only ones who are standing. But
many even of these, because of having been overcharged with the cares of this
life and the deceitfulness of riches, and false teachings, are in a trembling
condition and are quite unable to stand firmly. These need our immediate help.
URGENT NEED OF THE WHOLE
ARMOR
The Apostle Paul urges all the Lord's people to "put on the
whole armor of God." Some of them have not had on much of the armor of
God, but that of the creeds of the Dark Ages. Some of them, under the false
teachings of modern Higher Criticism, Evolution, etc., have only a wavering
faith. They are weak, instead of being "strong in the Lord and in the
power of His might," as they should be. Now is the time for all these to
be strong, in order that they may "be able to stand in the evil day,"
now upon us. They need to have on "the breastplate of righteousness,"
to be "shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace," to have
"the shield of faith," and "the Sword of the Spirit, which is
the Word of God."-- Ephesians 6:10-17.
We who have put on "the whole armor of God," who have become
measurably skilful in the handling of the Sword of the Spirit--the truths now
due from God's Word--need to use this now in the interest of all who may be
succored. They need to be assisted to put on the whole armor quickly, that they
may be protected from the darts of the Adversary now flying thick and fast,
that they may be saved from the errors now abounding on every hand, that they
may be uplifted from their temporary fall and made strong in the Lord.
MINISTERING ANGELS
This 91st Psalm, then, seems to be a picture of the present
time; and we are to strive to be the angels mentioned in our text. These
angels, or ministers, are preeminently the children of God. They are to
minister to the brethren. This is the high honor God has given to His people
throughout the Gospel Age. In our Lord's case angels, spirit beings, ministered
to Him; and in the cases of some of the Apostles the angels appeared and
ministered to them at certain times. The Scriptures declare, indeed, that the
angels are "all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall
be heirs of salvation." But we have very little reason to expect that God
will use any of the spirit beings to do a service that may be done by His
people.
According to this Psalm we see that now is the time when the
"feet" members are in special danger of [R5817
: page 376] stumbling, and hence require special assistance. After the
various snares of this day have been described with particularity, we read, in
the words of our text, "He shall give His angels charge concerning
thee,...lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." Our Lord spoke of
Himself at the First Advent as the Stone of Stumbling to the House of Israel,
foretold by the Prophet Isaiah. (Matthew 21:42-45.) The Apostle Paul refers to this prophecy
that Jesus would be a Stone of Stumbling to both the Houses of Israel.--Isaiah 8:14;
Romans 9:32,33.
Our Lord was a Stone of Stumbling to the Natural House of Israel in their
forty years of Harvest. Similarly, we see that He has been, as foretold, the
Stone of Stumbling in this Harvest, during these past forty years. His presence
and His work were neither understood nor appreciated in the Jewish Harvest; and
so here, the fact of our Lord's parousia, presence, is disbelieved and
His Ransom-sacrifice repudiated. The events of today are manifestations of His
presence. These things and the vital truths of Scripture, now more clear and
luminous than ever, are stumbling-stones to the world, but are blessings to the
faithful, watching ones. The true people of God, mounting on this
Stepping-Stone, are lifted up to a higher view-point and kept from stumbling. The
doctrine of the Ransom and the evidences of the Master's Second Presence at
this time are unspeakable advantages to the saints of the Lord.
PRESENT FULFILMENT OF
OUR TEXT
We see that the "stone" of our text is a symbolic stone. Satan
tried to apply it literally in His temptation of Jesus, when he urged Him to
cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple. But Jesus said, "Get thee hence,
Satan," and refused to make any such application of the Scripture. But we
see the fulfilment of it in this our day. We believe that the Lord has raised
up messengers, agencies, which have been very helpful to all of the
"feet" class. These agencies have been various. The printed page with
its Message of Present Truth has gone in many languages to all parts of the
earth, to seek out and to sustain the members of "the feet" of
Christ. Thousands are writing us continually that they have been recovered when
they have been in great danger. Some of these had already gone into infidelity;
many had lost all faith in the Bible as the Word of God. But they are strong in
the Lord and in the power of His might today.
God has used these agencies, then; and these have been His ministering
spirits, which have ministered to His people. We do not say that there have not
been invisible agencies also, but we know the agencies that we have seen. So our text has a good message for us all. "He shall give His angels
charge over thee, to guard thee in all thy ways." Whatever may be the
difficulties of the Lord's children in the near future, there will be a special
comfort in remembering that the Lord is able to make full provision for all His
true-hearted ones, and that He will do so. He will continue to use these
agencies, and there will be the strengthening of His people to the end of the
way. If there are any who will not be thus led, it must be because there is
something wrong in themselves. We should each see to it that we are of the "thee" class. "No evil shall come nigh thee." (Psalm 91:10.) That will mean
Divine protection to the very end of our course.
W.T.R-5815
a: page 374 – 1915 r.