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"HE THAT HEARETH YOU HEARETH ME."
--LUKE
10:1-16.--APRIL
24.--
Golden
Text:--"Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,
that
he would send forth laborers into his harvest."
THE
HARVEST work during the three and a half years of our Lord's ministry
seems to have been crowded chiefly into the last nine months of that
period. We have followed the course of the gradual unfoldment of the
Truth, then due, and now, about five months before our Lord's
crucifixion, we take note of his statement that the fields were white
for harvesting, and the laborers few. The first verse of our lesson
records the sending forth of the seventy men, two by two, as advance
missionaries to proclaim the Kingdom of God near at hand, and thus to
prepare the people for the later arrival of Jesus in the various
cities of Israel east of the Jordan.
These seventy were not
apostles in the special sense. They were additional to the twelve
apostles--they were evangelists; they had not as large experience
with the Master and his teachings, nor so important a work to do as
that assigned to the twelve. Nevertheless, any service to the Lord is
an important service, and to the extent that they did the Lord's will
they represented him. They were undoubtedly a part of the "five
hundred brethren" mentioned [R3346
: page 106] by
the Apostle as having seen our Lord after his resurrection. (I
Cor. 15:6.)
As the twelve apostles corresponded to the twelve tribes of Israel,
so the seventy evangelists corresponded to the seventy elders of
Israel appointed by Moses in the wilderness and afterward represented
in the Jewish Sanhedrin, which numbered seventy.
As
the seventy elders appointed by Moses, and their successors, the
Sanhedrin, were the elders of Israel, so in a general way these
seventy whom the Lord sent forth in the end of the Jewish age
represented all the leaders or elders amongst his people today.
Elsewhere we have shown what are the present duties and
responsibilities of elders as respects the Lord's flock;* and have
also shown how at the present time these are chosen or set apart
under the Lord's direction where his guidance is sought and the
instructions of his Word followed. We have also shown that in a
general way all of the people are fully commissioned in the same
sense or degree to speak officially or as the mouthpieces of his
body. To the extent of their abilities and time-given opportunities
all are privileged to tell the good tidings of great joy to all who
may have the ear to hear. But special blessing and special privileges
in connection with the service of the Truth attach to those who in
any particular manner are selected through the Lord's instrumentality
for the service of the Truth--either as chosen elders of local
companies of the Lord's people or as chosen pilgrims or accepted
colporteurs. Each may serve according to opportunities and the divine
blessing.
THE
JEWISH HARVEST AND OURS.
We
see that the Lord designated the end of the Jewish age as the
"harvest" time, for the reaping of the wheat of that people
and the gathering of them into the garner of the Gospel dispensation,
and for the rejection and symbolical burning of the chaff of that
people in the great time of trouble which came upon them gradually
after the rejection of Messiah, and was fully accomplished in the
destruction of their nation in A.D. 70. We are specially interested
in everything connected with that harvest time after learning that it
was a figure or type or foreshadowing of the harvest time in the end
of this Gospel age--the harvest in the midst of which we now find
ourselves. Our Lord called attention to these harvest conditions at
the same time that he sent forth the laborers, possibly indeed before
commissioning them. Sympathizingly he drew the attention of the
believers of that time to the ripeness of the conditions around them,
and urged them to pray to the Lord for laborers to assist in
garnering the true wheat.
Apparently
it was those who prayed to the Lord and felt an earnest desire for
the prosperity of the Lord's work, and the finding of the Israelites
indeed who consecrated themselves to this service, this evangelistic
ministry. But no matter whether they were taught first and prayed
first and gave themselves to the work afterward, or whether they gave
themselves first to the work and prayed afterward--the praying and
engagement in the service were associated in the Lord's mind and
evidently in the minds of those who participated in that harvest
work. And so it is today. As we look all about us we see nominal
Christendom like a great wheat field, ripe and ready for the reaping.
The true children of God greatly need the message which would gather
them to the Lord
----------
*See
MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol. VI., chap. 6. [R3347 : page 106] out of
all sectarian bondage, and all who have the Lord's Spirit feel drawn
to render the assistance necessary, at any cost of personal
inconvenience, etc.
As
we think of our dear friends groping in darkness and stumbling into
Higher Criticism, Infidelity, Evolution theories, Theosophy, New
Thought, Christian Science, etc., etc., we cry out to the Lord for
more laborers for the vineyard, knowing that he delights to see us
thus interested in the work he is carrying forward. In response he is
pleased to send a full company of laborers, represented by the
seventy of our lesson. We may be sure that those who are most
earnestly sympathetic and most earnestly praying are those who are
most earnestly laboring in this harvest--whether they are permitted
to labor in a public manner or are restricted to more private means
of personal conversation, tract distribution and mail correspondence,
whether they have the larger opportunities of the volunteer work on a
systematic scale, or whether they have the still larger opportunities
of the colporteur service or pilgrim work, etc.
"HOW
SHALL THEY PREACH EXCEPT THEY BE SENT?"
Our
Lord intimated that it would be a great honor for any to be sent
forth, and intimated also that none could engage in the service
unless they were sent forth by him--the Lord of the harvest. We are
not then to consider that any and everybody may engage in this work
today any more than in the harvest of the Jewish age. We are to pray
for the privilege and opportunity of service, and when it comes to us
are to seize it and use it with zeal, as appreciating the privilege
of being co-workers together with the Lord in the greatest and
grandest work imaginable. There is a distinctly drawn line as to who
are privileged to engage in this work. The harvesters acceptable to
the Lord can surely be none others than those who are fully
consecrated to him and accepted as members of the body of Christ. If
others engage we cannot expect for them the success and blessing that
we are authorized to expect for such as the Lord sends forth. In
harmony with this suggestion we find that unbelievers, book agents
and book stores are not successful in handling our publications. The
blessing seems to go only with those who are consecrated to the Lord
and with those of their families who are pleased to cooperate with
them in this harvest under their direction.
AS
LAMBS AMONG WOLVES.
Our
Lord's illustration, that his representatives sent forth would be as
lambs among wolves, seems a very strong and almost overdrawn
statement of the case until [R3347 : page 107] we get the
proper standpoint of observation. Those represented as wolves were
Jews, Israelites, nominally God's favored people for centuries--the
natural heirs of the Abrahamic covenant and promises. They were the
people who according to the flesh were the Lord's sheep, as
represented in the twenty-third Psalm, "The Lord
is my Shepherd." Yet how grievously they had lost as a whole the
proper sheeplike characteristics is clearly indicated by our Lord's
words likening them to wolves. The sheep is an innocent and almost a
helpless creature, harmless; the wolf is ravenous, destructive,
selfish. Doubtless, our Lord's words seemed harsh even to his
disciples, who, accustomed to the selfishness of the world, failed to
see it from the same standpoint as viewed by our Lord, who was holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, in the most absolute
sense and degree. Our Lord, however, "knew what was in man"
and judged not by the outward appearances. What, therefore, might
have been an uncharitable judgment and saying on the part of the
apostles was not so on our Lord's part. His own experiences less than
six months afterward, and the experiences of his faithful disciples,
all attested the wisdom and justice of the term "wolves" as
applied to the self-righteous, Sabbath-keeping, street-corner
praying, tithe-giving scribes and Pharisees, who had the form of
godliness but not the power of it in their hearts and lives.
Continuing
to draw lessons from the Jewish harvest and to apply them in this
harvest, we begin to realize that nominal Christendom of today is
likewise wolflike rather than lamblike, and that those who receive
the Lord's message and go forth in his name now are similarly as
lambs amongst wolves. The Apostle draws a picture, not of the heathen
world, but of the nominal Christian Church of today, when writing to
Timothy he prophetically described the conditions in the end of this
age. His words are, "In the last days perilous times shall
come." "For the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine; but having itching ears will gather to themselves
teachers after their own desires; and they shall turn away their ears
from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."--2
Tim. 3:1-5; 4:3,4.
A
GREAT WORK SOON DUE.
As
the principal part of the Lord's work at the first advent was crowded
into the closing six months, so we anticipate that the principal work
of the present harvest will be crowded into the last six years.
Already we see evidences that the work of harvest here is broadening.
Many more have the hearing ear for the Truth than had it a short time
ago, and many more are praying for the outcome of the harvest and
cooperating with their prayers by presenting themselves, all of their
opportunities and talents available, to the Lord's service in the
various departments of the work. It should not surprise us,
therefore, if in the closing six years the evidences would be far
stronger than ever before of the wolfish disposition of many who have
a form of godliness and outwardly claim to be the Lord's sheep.
Should the sheep suffer at their hands, we may be sure that it will
not be permitted until the due time. It will not be permitted to
interfere with the harvest work, and none can be seriously molested
except by the permission of the great Chief Reaper, and until his
time shall be fully come. All such trained in the school of Christ
will be ready, we trust, to say as did the Master at the close of his
career--"The cup which the Father hath poured me, shall I not
drink it?"--and rejoice to be counted worthy to suffer for the
name and for the cause we love.
"THIS
ONE THING I DO."
The
seventy were sent out without baggage. They took no changes of
clothing, they wore only sandals, and took no house shoes or
slippers; their journey was to be quickly made and all attention was
to be given to their missionary duties; they were not to attempt to
make themselves specially comfortable. It was the custom of the time
to entertain travelers, and especially such as had a religious
mission, prophets, etc.; and these evangelists were not to take up
any collections, and hence were to take no pocket-books with them.
They were to ask nothing for their services, but wherever they went
they were to heal the sick, cast out devils, and proclaim their
mission to the people as heralds of Jesus, declaring to them that the
Kingdom of God was near at hand, soon to be established. The command
to salute no man by the way did not signify that they might not say
"Good morning," but that they were not to follow the custom
of their time of stopping by the way to discuss whatever matter of
news might be carried from one village to another. They were not
news-gatherers, nor news heralds, but the heralds of the Lord,
ambassadors of the Kingdom, and were to give their time and attention
specially to that one service.
We
might draw a parallel between these representatives of the Truth in
the end of the Jewish age, and similar ministers of the Truth in the
present harvest time. We might note that the Pilgrim brothers go from
place to place, taking up no collections, engaging in no other
business, and declaring the same message--that the Kingdom of God is
near at hand. We might note the same in regard to the colporteurs:
they, too, have the one mission, and while their message is delivered
through the printed page, it is the very same message--the King, the
Kingdom, are at the door. And although the message is sold for a
price that price is no more than the seventy received as they went
from place to place. Neither do these laborers lay up treasures on
earth, but are content merely to meet their daily expenses, and glad
that thus doing they can feel that they are giving more than material
value for every penny that they receive, besides the incalculable
spiritual blessings which will go with the matter they are
circulating to those who [R3347 : page 108] have the ears to
hear and the hearts to appreciate the tidings of the Kingdom. The
volunteers who scatter the tract matter in every city and village
similarly are bearing the message that the King is at the door, and
similarly are laboring without remuneration, and similarly are
content with such things as they have and are not seeking for earthly
reward. The spirit of the work now going on and that which was
carried on in the close of our Lord's ministry have a noticeable
correspondence.
BLESSED
THE PEACEMAKERS--CHILDREN OF GOD.
Each
laborer in the present harvest should note well the Lord's
instruction in verses five and six. Wherever the Lord's
representatives go peace should go, not strife, confusion, turmoil,
quarreling. True, the Truth will prove to be a sword that will arouse
opposition, yet it should be the Truth that causes the opposition and
division and not any rudeness or unkindness of word or action on the
part of the Lord's representatives. There are plenty of things to
aggravate mankind in this our busy day, and all who have received the
Truth should receive also its spirit, "speaking peace through
Jesus Christ." The "peace of God which passeth all
understanding" should have control of each one who would
represent the Lord and his message, that a hallowing influence should
[R3348 : page 108] go with each, especially in every service
and word spoken in the name of the Prince of Peace. The true
character of his people is described by our Lord: they who would be
properly termed the children of God should be peacemakers and not
peace disturbers. "So far as lieth in you live peaceably with
all men." It is not possible to live peaceably with all and yet
be true to principles, but the interest of peace should be conserved
in any and every proper way by the Lord's representatives.
According
to the customs of our day it might be considered extreme if we were
to apply the Lord's words literally and say "Peace to this
house," before entering; and so also it would be considered
extreme today if, not being welcomed, we were to stamp the dust from
our shoes in departing from the house. However, the spirit of both
these matters should be with us. On entering any house our thought
should be to do good, to carry blessing, to exercise a favorable
influence for peace, joy and blessing to those within; and if we, as
the Lord's ministers, were rebuffed and disdained, not wanted, we
should be careful not to intrude ourselves further, and, in that
figurative sense of the word, we should wipe off the very dust.
"If
a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him." If at
any place we find one having the same spirit of the Lord, desirous of
knowing and doing the Lord's will, we should rejoice to meet him as a
brother and communicate to him the harvest message as he might have
ears to hear it, and thus a blessing would be his; otherwise we
should not remain. The Lord's people should never intrude themselves
further than to make known briefly their message and work. If these
be properly presented and meet with no response, the Lord would not
have us violate the proprieties of courtesy by imposing ourselves or
our teachings upon those who are unappreciative. Our Lord set us a
good example in this matter.
BEGGING
FOR THE LORD NOT AUTHORIZED.
The
disciples were not to go from house to house as beggars, to get a
meal here and a lodging there but were to expect that if the Lord had
guided them providentially to those who had received them, the Lord
meant to give their hosts through them a blessing proportionate to
the cost of their brief entertainment. They were not to consider
these hospitalities in the light of alms, for as the Lord's
representatives they were there to confer blessings more than they
would receive, and as common laborers even the service they rendered
should be worth at least their keep. This principle was to apply not
only to a house but to a city. They were not to be fastidious, but to
accept such hospitalities as were proffered them; and if this meant
no hospitality, they were to leave the city and go to one that would
receive them and their message more cordially.
Verse
9might
at first appear to be a special message applicable in the Jewish
harvest yet not applicable to the Gospel harvest; but not so. There
is spiritual as well as physical sickness, and the Lord's ambassadors
of today should consider it to be their mission, their business, to
open blind eyes and unstop deaf ears, and generally heal the sick in
a spiritual way with the balm of Gilead, the good tidings of great
joy now due to be understood. Moreover, it is our privilege now as it
was their privilege then to declare, "The Kingdom of God is come
nigh unto you." This announcement has not been a proper one all
down through the age but merely in the ends or harvests of the two
ages. After our Lord's death and resurrection the apostles no longer
preached, "The Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." On
the contrary, they declared that the Kingdom of God, which had been
offered to Israel, had passed away from them now to be given to a
spiritual Israel which should be selected from all the peoples and
kindreds and nations. But now we have come to the end of this period
of selecting spiritual Israel, and in the harvest time of this age
the proclamation again goes forth, Behold, the King is at the door,
the Kingdom is at hand, and the wise virgins are preparing and will
enter into the marriage, as the Lord represented in the parable of
the wise and foolish virgins. (Matt.
25:1-12.)
It is still true that in some places the Lord's representatives will
be unkindly received no matter how wisely and kindly they seek to
proclaim their message, and they should heed this same injunction.
A
MERE "FORM OF GODLINESS" WORSE THAN NONE.
Then
the Lord calls the attention of his disciples to the cities in which
his principal works were done, Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum,
declaring that if the same works had been done in the heathen cities
of Tyre and Sidon, or even in the city of Sodom, which was destroyed
in Abraham's day, such works as he did would [R3348 : page 109] have been sufficient to have aroused the heathen inhabitants of
those cities to repentance and seeking the Lord's favor. He then
points out that when the great judgment day shall come it shall be
more tolerable for Tyre and more tolerable for Sidon and more
tolerable for Sodom than for those who had received favor in so large
a measure and yet were not moved to repentance and obedience. These
words suggest several important thoughts.
(1)
Why was it that these Jewish cities, so long under divine instruction
through the Law and the prophets, should be more dull, less ready to
hear the good tidings than the heathen? We can only account for it on
the general lines suggested by the Apostle when he declared that all
the knowledge any of us may receive is either a savor of life unto
life or a savor of death unto death--either affects us favorably to
draw us into accord with the Lord and the principles of
righteousness, or unfavorably, so as to alienate us the more from
him. This is a general principle, and we can readily see that the
Truth coming to the fallen man under present conditions would to the
few work a great blessing, and to the many would in a measure result
in hardening of heart.
(2)
We say to ourselves, What is to be the fate of the people of
Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum in the day of judgment, in the
Millennium? We see that, so far as the present life is concerned,
they have shared the same fate as the cities--all of the six cities
mentioned are utterly destroyed and their inhabitants are all totally
dead. Will those people have an awakening in the future--will they
arise from the dead? Our Lord answers the question, saying, "All
that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man and
come forth." Well, then, we ask, for what will they be brought
forth? Our Lord answers that their coming forth will be in that
day--the Millennial day, the day of the world's judgment, the
thousand years of Messiah's reign--when Satan will be bound and when,
as the seed of Abraham, Christ and the Church will reign as Kings and
Priests to bless all the families of the earth.--Rev.
5:10.
"MORE
TOLERABLE FOR SODOM."
Our
Lord's declaration is that it will be more tolerable for Tyre and
Sidon than for the cities of Galilee in that Millennial time. What
can this mean? It means that under that blessed arrangement
conditions will be favorable or tolerable even for those people who
witnessed the Lord's miracles and yet were not moved by them to
repentance and discipleship; and it will be still more tolerable for
the heathen peoples of Tyre and Sidon--yes, for the degraded ones of
Sodom, who never heard of the grace of God, who never tasted of the
divine favors, or witnessed divine healings, or had opportunities of
being taught of the Lord, or being accepted as disciples of Christ.
The
Apostle tells us that as soon as this Gospel age is completed, the
Lord's favor will turn again to natural Israel, and that as a result
blindness shall be turned away from them--Israel shall be saved from
their blindness. (Rom.
11:25,26.)
He goes on to explain that this will not be for anything of merit on
their part, but because of the Lord's mercy, compassion, forgiveness
through Christ. The prophet takes up the matter at the same point and
declares that Israel shall look upon him whom they have pierced and
shall all mourn because of him, and that the Lord will pour upon them
the spirit of prayer and of supplication in connection with that
mourning. Thus the blessing shall come again to those who rejected
the Lord and crucified him, and with eyes opened still wider under
the favorable conditions of the Millennial age, under the wise
administration of the Lord himself as the great King over all the
earth in that day, and with the influences of Satan bound and
restrained that he may deceive the nations no more by "putting
light for darkness and darkness for light," the people of
Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum shall have a further blessing,
though a somewhat different kind from that which they rejected. They
rejected the privilege of becoming disciples and joint-heirs in the
Kingdom. That will never be offered to them again, because when next
divine favor is exercised toward them it will be with the privileges
of restitution to human nature --to that which was lost in Adam and
redeemed by the death of the one whom they crucified.
"THUS
IT IS WRITTEN."
The Lord through the
Prophet Ezekiel
(16:48-60)
tells us particularly about the Sodomites, explaining the reason why
they and their city were blotted out, and explaining also why the
Israelites were rejected from his favor; but further explaining that
when he shall have compassion upon Israel for the fathers' sake, and,
according to his promise, bring them back again to their own land and
to greater privileges under the Millennial Kingdom, then also he will
have compassion upon the people of Sodom and recover them also to
their former estate, to all that was lost, [R3349
: page 109] to
restitution privileges. O, how grand are the divine arrangements and
plans! Some may say, these are blessings that are coming; but our
Lord intimated that certain great tribulations were coming upon the
cities of Galilee. What were they? We have already referred to these.
The people of the cities of Galilee and of all Palestine were
involved in the great time of trouble with which the Jewish age was
wound up and that nation blotted out of existence as a nation, its
members being scattered amongst all nations. This was a great
tribulation and sore loss to the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida and
Capernaum--especially when compared with what they might have enjoyed
if they had become obedient to the Lord's message--had they become
disciples and thus attained joint-heirship with the Lord and the
apostles and all the saints in the Kingdom.
But
how will it be more favorable in the Millennial age for those people
of the heathen cities named than for those of Galilee? Will not the
terms of the Millennial age be equally open to all the world of
mankind? We answer, Yes, but all mankind will not be in equal [R3349
: page 110] readiness to profit by those blessed conditions of
the Kingdom. It is a law of nature that a blessing having been once
despised, and Truth having been once rejected, is on that account
more difficult to be grasped if offered again. This our Lord
intimated when he said of the efforts of the Jews to make proselytes
amongst the Gentiles, "Ye compass sea and land to make a
proselyte, and when he is made he is twofold more a child of
destruction than he was before." Truths received under
unfavorable conditions and into unready hearts are not really
blessings but are sometimes injurious. When the Kingdom conditions
shall be made known to the people of Sodom and Tyre and Sidon, they
will doubtless be more ready to bow to them, accept them and conform
to them than some who already have had a measure of light but have
been unfaithful to what they did see. Hence we may expect it to be
more tolerable in the Millennial age for many of the heathen
peoples--more favorable for them to fall in line with the Lord's
gracious arrangements--than it will be for some who have enjoyed high
place and position in the Jewish and Christian systems, but whose
hearts have been far from appreciative of the principles of
righteousness, etc., involved.
"AMBASSADORS
FOR CHRIST."
The
last verse of the lesson is most impressive, most encouraging, most
stimulating. The Lord would have us know that when sent out with his
message and under his direction we fully represent him, so that he
that heareth us heareth him. What a wonderful honor is thus conferred
upon the most humble of the Lord's mouthpieces, "He that
despiseth you, despiseth me, and he that despiseth me, despiseth him
that sent me." If as the Lord's people we could always have this
thought with us, it would certainly be a blessing to us in two ways:
(1)
It would prompt us to feel the dignity of the smallest service
rendered to the Lord's cause. It would banish fear of man and all
feelings of weakness and trepidation. Recognizing ourselves as the
Lord's representatives we would be courageous to go anywhere, to do
any service called for in his commission and providential leading.
(2)
This thought would bring to us such a sense of our responsibility
that all the affairs of the present life would seem trivial and
insignificant in comparison to the one great thing that we do--our
heavenly mission and commission. We would be more dignified in
manner, more earnest in our service as well as less careful of what
man might say of us. Our whole concern would be that we might please
him who hath chosen us to be soldiers in his Royal Legion, to be
ambassadors and heralds of the Kingdom and of its terms and
conditions.
====================