BTR12 - We Love God!

This entry is part 12 of 14 in the series The Bible Truth Review

The Bible Truth Review

BTR12

The Bible Truth Review

Issue No. 12 (March 10, 1991)

In This Issue

“Helps by the Way. No. 7. The Greek Prepositions.” by Charles H. Welch in The Berean Expositor circa 1914-15.

“Judging #3. Who Is Able To Judge?” by J. McEown in Bible Explorations, Vol. 1 No. 10, Oct. 1987

“Wondrous Meeting Places.” by Charles H. Welch in The Berean Expositor circa 1909-11.

“The Parables. No. 7. The Drag Net.” by Charles H. Welch in The Berean Expositor circa 1912-13.

“The Sovereignty of God #7” by Oscar M. Baker in Truth for Today Vol. 40 No. 11, 2/1/91.

Subscription Information and Permission to Distribute by Leo Wierzbowski, editor of The Bible Truth Review.

“Helps by the Way. No. 7. The Greek Prepositions.” by Charles H. Welch in The Berean Expositor circa 1914-15.

Eis. — This preposition (the opposite of ek, out of, considered in our last paper), properly answers the question ‘whither?’ and may be generally translated “into.”

The underlying idea of motion, common to most prepositions, is well seen in this word. “Come into the house” (Matt. ii.11). “Cast into the fire” (Matt. iii.10). In Luke x.36 and Acts iv.17 it is translated “among,” but in each case the direction of the motion, the goal, or end in view, is quite evident.

In Mark xi.8 and Matt. xxvi.6 it is rendered “in,” and in Mark viii.23 it is “on.” It sometimes is enough to render the word by “to” (thitherward) as in John xi.38, “Cometh to the grave.” To translate the word by “into” would produce a false impression on the mind (cf. verse 41). So in John iv.5, the Lord came UNTO, but not into Sychar (see verses 8 and 28). So again in John xx.1, Mary Magdalene came UNTO, but not into the sepulchre (see verse 11). The underlying idea of the direction of motion may be felt in the expression “bind them into bundles” (Matt. xiii.40). “Rent into two” (Mark xv.38).

Sometimes eis is best expressed by the word “against,” e.g., ” Against the Son of man” (Luke xii.10). “Sinned against heaven” (Luke xv.18). “Trespass against thee” (Luke xvii.3). When applied to time it indicates a point of time “against which,” “for which,” “till which,” or a period of time “during.” “Unto the next day” (Acts iv.3). “Unto the end” (John xiii.1). “Against that day” (2 Tim. i.12). “For many years” (Luke xii.19). The secondary and figurative use of the preposition signifies aim, purpose, or end, still preserving the idea of the direction of motion. “For a testimony” (Matt. x.18). “For the remission” (Matt. xxvi.28). “For good” (Rom. xiii.4). “To this end” (Rom. xiv.9). Eis ti is “Why?”, “For what?” (Matt. xxvi.8). “That ye may know” (Eph. i.18).

The condition into which something is brought is expressed by eis. “Unto an holy temple” (Eph.ii.21). “Into darkness” (Acts ii.20).

The results of an action. “Ye come together not for the better, but for the worse” (I Cor. xi.17). The preposition sometimes indicates the object towards which some feeling is directed. “Use hospitality one to another” (I Pet. iv.9). “Lie not one to another” (Col. iii.9). It also indicates the person to whom, or thing to which, some statement refers, as in Acts ii.25, “David speaketh concerning Him,” and Eph. v.32, “I speak concerning Christ and the church.” A desire after something may be expressed by eis as in Phil. i.23, “Having a desire to depart” (i.e, unto the departing).

The above are only some of the many ways in which this interesting preposition is used, but however remote at first the figurative use may appear from the original meaning of eis, direction of motion will be found to be the constant fundamental idea. In combination it occurs in eisago, “to lead in” (John xviii.16; Heb. i.6); eisakouo, “to hear favourably” (literally “to hear towards”) (Matt. vi.7; I Cor. xiv.21; Heb. v.7); eiserchomai, eisodos, &c., all of which will repay careful study.

“Judging #3. Who Is Able To Judge?” by J. McEown in Bible Explorations, Vol. 1 No. 10, Oct. 1987

Ever since Eve, man has faced the dilemma of judging, that is, distinguishing between good and evil, between true and false. The world, the flesh and the devil seek to deceive him. However, there is one who is able to judge perfectly, without bias or malice, because He knows all things and was proved holy and sinless when He arose from the grave. It is said of God, “He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31)

Jesus Christ is alive and there are set times when He will separate the good to remain and the evil to be done away with. When He returns to earth He will sift the nations and also the works of His People, Israel, and He will also sift our works when we appear with Him far above all heavens. Paul wrote of, “…the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall judge the quick (living) and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom.” (II Ti 4:1). He is the “righteous” judge, we read and His decisions are just because, “the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” (I Sam 16.7) No corner of the mind is hidden from Him for He said, “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins…” (Jer 17:10).

Since the Lord is the only one who can judge rightly, the sincere Christian may conclude that he should flee all tendencies to judge. However, the Lord told some in His day to, “Judge not according to the appearance, but to judge righteous judgment.” (Jn 7:24). And Paul, even though he was miles away, pronounced a judgment on the act of one in the Corinthian church. He also told the group there to, “put away from among yourselves that wicked person” (I Co 5:13). Again, to us he said, “Have no fellowship with the works of darkness…” (Eph 5:11). Now some judgments must be made to do that and we find that when God asks His people to do something, He provides the means. He provides a mind with which His people can discern rightly. “If any man be in Christ he is a new creation,” (II Co 5:17) we read, and, in I Co 2:14-16, we find that he who is God’s is called “spiritual”, that is, supernatural. He can understand spiritual things whereas before he was only a “natural” man, able to perceive only from outward appearances. Now he has been given a new nature, called the mind of Christ.

“…the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,…But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, …We have the mind of Christ,” Paul wrote. (I Co 2:14-16)

Admittedly, no HUMAN mind is able to judge the acts of himself or others without bias or malice. But the Lord is able and He has given His people a new mind with which they can discern right and wrong. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”, (Phil 2:5). With this mind, controlled by the love of God, one will first examine his own heart and then be forbearing of new and weak believers. However, this mind tolerates no false teaching about its Lord and will not condone what God has condemned.

We are told to, “put on the new man, which after Gcd is created in righteousness and true holiness”. This mind must be put on by prayer and daily feeding on God’s word. Then, our judgments will be His who is able to judge rightly.

“Wondrous Meeting Places.” by Charles H. Welch in The Berean Expositor circa 1909-11.

It is not our purpose to discuss the merits of any particular “Place of Worship,” nor to advocate the attendance, or non-attendance at the meetingplace of any one sect or denomination; we desire to “preach Christ,” and by so doing we shall strike a more powerful blow at sectarianism than by all the denunciations that we might pour forth, and at the same time feed the Lord’s people with the true bread which cometh down from heaven.

This wonderful meeting place to which we wish to draw attention is found in Isaiah liii., being symbolized in Exodus xxv.21 and 22. Let us turn to Exod. cxv.16-22. The ark of the covenant has placed within it the unbroken tables of stone. Let it be remembered that Israel in reality never received the ten commandments, they were broken be£ore they could be given them. God’s answer was, “Make an ark,” not “Give them another chance,” or “Give them an easier code.” Upon this ark is placed the mercy seat, the propitiatory, which exactly fitted the ark beneath. Here we have Rom. iii.21-26 set before our very eyes. Atonement has a broad base of righteousness to rest upon. The blood sprinkled upon the mercy seat covers the perfect and unbroken law within, “That he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. “This symbol of the perfect work of Christ is the “ground of meeting” in Exod. xxv.22. “There will I meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat.” Fellow-believer, “Let us draw nigh”; none can say us nay if He bids us welcome. With this beautiful type in mind let us turn to Isaiah liii.

In Acts viii.35 we read, “Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture, and preached unto Him — Jesus.” Isaiah liii. is the passage. It is a part of repentant Israel’s confession when they look upon Him whom they pierced, when the veil shall be removed, and they shall say:-

“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows . . . . All we like sheep, have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath made to meet on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Let us pause and consider this wondrous meeting place. The sufferer is the Son of God; the hands which fashioned the heavens (Heb. i.1O) are nailed to the accursed tree; the brow which is yet to wear “many diadems” is crowned with the thorns that sprang up in consequence of Adam’s sin. Why all this? Was there no other way? No! The Lord of glory stepped down from His exalted throne, became a man, a servant, and dies under the imputed guilt which the Lord made to meet on Him. What a tremendous thought is here; how it calls upon us to remember that we are upon holy ground! One sin to an infinitely holy Being must be loathsome, but to think of the combined sin of my lifetime being made to converge upon His sacred head is more than heart can conceive. But the writer is not the only one for whom the Saviour died. Thousands more can rejoice in Him as the great sin-bearer for them. But this is not all. Generation after generation have lived, and sinned, and died, and for many of each the Saviour’s blood was shed. Here, like Paul at the end of Rom. xi. (as he goes on to enumerate the multiplied mercy of God), we get out of our depth — we can only bow our heads and say, “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.”

This is not all, however, there is still a “much more.” At the end of Isaiah liii.12 we read of a second meeting place, linked and founded upon the first one in verse 6:-

“He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bare the sin of many, and made a meeting place for transgressors.”

He was first made a meeting place for transgressions, and then, having put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, where He ever liveth to make intercession for us, to whom we can go at all times by a new and living way. What a glorious meeting place! But even this does not exhaust the depth, nor scale the height, nor comprehend the love that passeth knowledge. We who by faith look back to that solemn meeting place of Calvary, look forward in hope to the consummation of it all, as expressed in the words of the apostle to the Thessalonians. Whether I Thess. iv. is to be interpreted of the church of the mystery is a question with which we must deal by and by, but one thing we know, that the redeemed of all ages and dispensations, whether by rapture or resurrection, whether before or after the great tribulation, whether to inherit the heavenly holiest of all or the earthly paradise, they shall all meet the Lord (I Thess. iv.17; I John iii.1-3; Phil. iii.20 and 21; Col iii.1-4; Titus ii.13; Rev. xx.4, and xxii.4).

“The Parables. No. 7. The Drag Net.” by Charles H. Welch

In the preceding parable we had the remnant of Israel likened to that which is the most valuable treasure of the sea — the pearl. We are now to consider two kinds of fish which are gathered from the sea, and to note their meaning. We have pointed out the fact that structurally and in subject the two parables of the Tares and the Net are very similar. The tares indicate the hypocrites, the counterfeit, that which was sown by the Devil in imitation of the true wheat. We observed that this parable had a particular and primary application to Israel and the state of the kingdom.

The net draws to shore fish both “good” and “bad.” So far we see the parallel: the wheat and the tares being two kinds of grain, one good and one bad; the fish being of two kinds, the one good and the other bad. But here comes a noteworthy difference, for whereas it is evident that the tares were intended to counterfeit the wheat, there is not the slightest warrant for supposing that the “bad” fish counterfeited the “good.” Further, the wheat and the tares deal with two kinds of seed, whereas the net “gathered of every kind.” Another point to be remembered is the different order given with regard to the separation of the two kinds. Let us carefully consider the interpretation given by our Lord of these two related parables, noticing their points of contact and of divergence.

It will be observed that a more complete explanation is given of the Tares than of the Net, and that in both cases the section dealing with the wicked receives most attention. The wheat and the tares are, the one sons of the kingdom, the other sons of the devil. The good and bad fish are not placed under either heading. Before considering the dispensational teaching of this parable, let us consider more carefully some of the figures that are used.

The Net. — Scripture mentions three different nets:-

The cast net (diktuon), cf. John xxi.11.
The circular net (amphiblestron), cf. Matt. iv.18.
The drag net (sagene), only used in this parable.

The Fish. — There are 40 different kinds of fish in the Sea of Galilee: of these there are two common kinds, one a good fish, the bream, the other a fish without scales, and therefore an abomination, having neither fins nor scales (Lev. xi.10), the flesh of which was salted and sold to the port of Rome, where it received the name of “stinking sheat fish.”

The Sea. — The sea is continually used as a type of the nations, particularly in a tumultuous state. “The waters…. are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (Rev. xvii.15).

Let us now look at the parable in the light of prophecy. The drawing of the net to shore at the end of the age is parallel with the gathering of the living nations to the land of Israel. Note, in the parable and in the prophecy, that the fish and the nations are living and not dead. This is not dealing with the judgment of those who are raised from the dead, but that of the living nations, whose relation with the kingdom is to be decided.

Scripture is emphatic upon the fact that towards the end of the age Jerusalem and the land of Israel shall become a “burdensome stone to the nations.” The “Eastern Question” already gathers around Asia Minor, and the Powers of Europe jealously regard each other in reference to Jerusalem — the key to the East. Listen to the words of the Prophets:-

“For, Behold, in those days and in that time, WHEN I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I WILL ALSO GATHER ALL NATIONS, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for My people and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted My land” (Joel iii.1,2).

“Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee, for I WILL GATHER ALL NATIONS against Jerusalem to battle” (Zech. xiv.1,2).

My determination is to GATHER THE NATIONS, THAT I MAY ASSEMBLE THE KINGDOMS, to pour upon them My indignation” (Zeph. iii.8).

“Haste ye and come, ALL YE NATIONS round about, and gather yourselves together; thither cause THY MIGHTY ONES (i.e. the angels) TO COME DOWN, O Lord. Let the nations bestir themselves and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I SIT TO JUDGE ALL NATIONS round about” (Joel iii.11,12).

“When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered ALL NATIONS, and He shall separate them” (Matt. xxv. 31-33).

As we read these prophecies it is abundantly manifested that the gathering of the nations is to be expected at the time of the end. Matt. xxv. shows that the nations who have well treated the “brethren” of the King shall enter into the kingdom, while the nations who have ill-treated the Jew are an offense, and are gathered out of that kingdom. Matt. xxv. is national. As nations they enter the kingdom, or as nations they are debarred. It is quite contrary to the teaching of the passage to make the kind acts of the nations a basis for “doing all things unto the Lord,” for these nations did not consciously do what they did to Israel for Christ’s sake at all; they only learn that when they stand before His throne.

The peculiar time of Israel’s trouble, which is coming, will be a great temptation to all the nations to take advantage of the helplessness of this down-trodden people, but the Lord will reward that nation which acts kindly to His people. “Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom”; “the righteous into age-abiding life” (Matt. xxv.34,46) is typified in the parable by the putting of the good fish into the vessels. “For every one that is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles” (Zech. xiv.16).

These are the good fish of the parable. The nations who are thus blessed will have a blessed portion in the kingdom; many, however, will forfeit their place when Satan is unbound at the end. Israel’s preeminent position in the kingdom is emphasized in the parable of the Tares, for of them it adds “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Thus, at the end of the age there will be two siftings and two gatherings in connection with the kingdom. First from Israel itself (as indicated in the “Tares”), He shall thoroughly purge His floor — hypocrites and sons of the wicked one, those who say they are Jews and are not, but who are of the synagogue of Satan (Rev. iii.9) — and then from the nations round about as already seen in the quotations from the Prophets and Matt. xxv.

These parables show us that great care is necessary in reading the Word that we do not overlook the divisions that are made among various classes in the kingdom. We have the “Treasure,” Israel, as distinct from the nations. We have the “One Pearl,” the Remnant, as distinct from the nation. We have the good and bad fish, the division made among the nations themselves.

Evil shall not always reign. That kingdom so long looked for will come, and then shall begin the final step towards the goal — “A new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

“The Sovereignty of God #7” by Oscar M. Baker in Truth for Today Vol. 40 No. 11, 2/1/91.

Those who speak longest and loudest about the sovereignty of God are the very ones who question it and try to destroy it. If God is really and truly sovereign, then how foolish it is for folks to try to direct it and make rules by which God must exercise it.

Now if God is sovereign and the Creator, then He can do as He pleases with the creature. And no creature should question any act of the Creator. For an example, we find in John 5:21 that the Lord quickeneth whom He will. And just try quoting that, and you get a rise of protest. A lot of folks will object and say that such a thing cannot be, that the Lord is compelled to quicken all people. Immediately they try to take His sovereignty from Him and dictate what they want, indicating that they think their will and their demands are greater than those of God. How impudent can men get!

There is one matter that these folks are strangely quiet about. They have never made any attempt to explain why God made man disposable; why that man is made of such frail material as the dust of the ground if God was going to save all of them regardless. Why did He not make them of some better material, something imperishable, if He was going to save all of them? But if any one thing is plainly revealed in God’s word, it is that man, as a soul, is made from dust and to dust returns. It is equally plain that the only hope of escape lies in the words of John 3:16, that whosoever will may believe and have life and hence a resurrection. If there is any other way, the Scriptures fail to mention it. We may be assured that any other way is the way of thieves and robbers.

Here is a quote from a recent letter which shows the lengths to which the blasphemy of the UR’s will go; “You accuse us of stating that God is the author of sin. This is definitely not so. Sin is missing the mark, and we are assured that God does not miss the mark. In closing may I put it to you that if there is not ultimate salvation for the vast majority from Adam down to the present, except those saved by faith, the the Maker of all has missed the mark.” You will note that this man has another way of salvation outside of by faith. Also note that he does not accuse God of being the author of sin, but of actually sinning. And what is the mark? It is one that this man has very arbitrarily set up for God to shoot at. It is an artificial fictitious mark which exists only in the imagination of a man.

Now it is not too hard to find in history just where this doctrine of universal salvation began. It was conceived and brought up in the atmosphere of the lie of Satan, the theory of the immortality of the soul. Satan has said that man does not surely die. Most of mankind has believed this lie. And in believing it, they had to devise compartments for such folks, one for the good and one for the bad. But the latter got to be so bad in their imagination that some revolted from it. They thought surely God would not torment people forever so they surmised that He would save all. That is how it began.

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