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Chosen no: R-4892 b, from: 1911 Year. |
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"Songs In The Night"
--PSALM 85.--OCTOBER 29.--
"The Lord hath done great things for
us whereof we are glad."--Psa. 126:3.
WE ARE STILL in the night of weeping. Sickness,
sorrow, sighing and dying continue, and will continue until the glorious
morning of Messiah's Kingdom. How glad we are that we have learned that then
the glorious change will come to earth! The Prophet David expresses this
thought, saying, "Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the
morning." (Psa. 30:5.) St. Paul breathed the same sentiment when he
declared, "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together
until now, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God." (Romans 8:22.) The sons of God in glory will, with
their Lord, constitute Emmanuel's Kingdom.
At present these sons of God are comparatively
little known or recognized amongst men; frequently they are considered
"peculiar people," because of their zeal for righteousness and truth
and for God. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like
Him, for we shall see Him as He is"; and we shall share His glory, honor
and immortality and with Him scatter Divine blessings to all the families of
the earth.
"A SONG OF DELIVERANCE"
Our lesson, the 85th Psalm, may
properly have several applications. The first of these would be to Israel's deliverance from the Babylonian
captivity, when Cyrus gave permission that all who desired might return to Palestine. About
fifty-three thousand availed themselves of this privilege and of his
assistance. The people rejoiced in this manifestation of the turning away of
Divine disfavor and the return to them of Divine favor and blessing. The pardon
of their transgressions as a nation was here evidenced in this privilege of
returning to God's favor.
A secondary application of the Song is just
before us. Israel
has been in a far greater captivity to Christendom during the past eighteen
centuries. She has the promise, nevertheless, of a mighty deliverance. The
Cyrus who gave them liberty to return from literal Babylon
was a type of the great Messiah who is about to give full liberty for the
return of God's ancient people to Divine favor--to Palestine. St. Paul
refers to this coming deliverance of Israel in Romans
11:25-29. The Deliverer will do more than merely regather them. He will
do that which the 85th Psalmhas predicted; as the Apostle says,
"This is My Covenant with them when I shall take away their sins." See
also Jer. 31:31-34; Heb.
8:8-11.
Israel's
sins have not yet been taken away, even as the world's sins have not yet been
taken away. The great Redeemer indeed has died for sin, and He is the sinner's
friend, but as yet he has only appeared in the presence of God for us--the
Church--not for the world. He is the Church's Advocate only; He advocates
for none except those who desire to approach to God, and these are the saintly
only--such as love righteousness and hate iniquity. [R4892
: page 381]
The world is enslaved by Sin and Death, the twin
monarchs which are now reigning and causing mankind to groan. We were born in
this enslaved condition; as the Scriptures declare, "Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity, in sin did my mother conceive me." Our race, groaning under
the weaknesses and imperfections we have thus inherited--mental, moral and
physical--longs for the promised deliverance from the bondage of sin and death.
The majority of mankind undoubtedly feel the gall of their slavery, and will be
glad to be free.
The great Deliverer is the antitypical Cyrus. Soon
He will be victorious and will establish His kingdom under the whole heaven. Soon
the Church class, the saintly, "the elect," will be glorified, and
then the time will come for the blessing of the non-elect--for their
restitution to human perfection and to a world-wide Paradise,
which Messiah's kingdom and power will produce. "He must reign until He
hath put all enemies under His feet; the last enemy that shall be destroyed is
death." Death will be destroyed; sheol, hades, the grave, will be
destroyed, by the resurrection of the dead therefrom--"Every one in his
own order."
"SONGS IN THE NIGHT HE
GIVETH"
While the whole creation groans under its load
of sin and sorrow, the saintly few may sing, may rejoice, even in the midst of
all the sorrows of life, and even though they share the results of sin as fully
or even more fully than do others. The secret of their joy is two-fold: (1)
They have experienced reconciliation to God. (2) They have submitted their
wills to His will. They obtained this new relationship by the way of faith in
the Redeemer--faith in His blood of Atonement. They entered by the "strait
gate" and "narrow way" of consecration to God--surrendering
their own wills and covenanting to do the Divine will to the best of their
ability.
This submission of the will to God and the
realization that all their life's affairs are in God's keeping and under His
supervision gives rest to the heart. They have a rest and peace in this
surrendered condition which they never knew when they sought to gratify
self-will and ignored the right of their Creator to the homage of their hearts
and the obedience of their lives.
Similarly, these have joy and peace and songs of
thankfulness to God because to them He grants a knowledge of His Divine
purposes, and shows them things to come. These see beyond the trials and
tribulations of the present time--they see the glories that will follow the
present time of suffering. These see that the Church, the saintly few of all
denominations and of all nationalities, are prospective heirs of God--heirs of
glory, honor and immortality and association with the Redeemer in His glorious
Kingdom. This encourages them. They see also the outlines of the Divine
Programme for the blessing of all the families of the earth. When they thus
perceive that God is interested in their dear ones who are not saints, and
interested in the whole human family, very few of whom are saints, it causes
them rejoicing. When they perceive that God has arranged that through Christ
and the glorified Church all the families of the earth shall be blessed, it
makes them "joyful in the house of their pilgrimage"--while waiting
for their own change from human to divine nature.
W.T. R-4892b : page 380 - 1911r