SIR ROBERT ANDERSON
Secret Service
Theologian
FORGOTTEN
TRUTHS
CHAPTER 5
THE MYSTERY OF
CHRIST
THE Bible has suffered more from Christian exponents than
from infidel assailants. The prophets of Israel, "moved by the Holy Spirit,"
spoke with united voice of a time when righteousness and peace would triumph
and rule upon the earth; but "old-fashioned orthodoxy" interpreted their
glowing periods much as an American crowd interprets the rhodomontade of
political stump orators at election times! And thus the sublime words of the
Hebrew Scriptures are supposed to find their fulfillment in the history of
Christendom. They are read as referring to us and to our own age. And after us,
the deluge! What wonder is it that sensible men of the world are skeptical both
about the past predictions and the coming deluge! On this system of exegesis,
for example, the sublime flights of Isaiah, when reduced to sober prose, find
their realization - I repeat the phrase - in a pandemonium and a bonfire! This
nightmare system of interpreting Holy Scripture makes the sacred pages seem to
unbelief a hopeless maze of mysticism.
As we open the New Testament
narrative we read that "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the
wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."
And "when John was cast into prison," the Lord Himself took up this same
testimony, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." (Matthew 3:1, 2;
4:17) Now the only meaning these words can bear, is that the time was at hand
when heaven would rule upon earth,1 a hope which, as the inspired Apostle
declared at Pentecost, was the burden of Hebrew prophecy. But, as we have seen,
the fulfillment of that hope has been postponed owing to the apostasy and sin
of the Covenant people. And, because of its postponement, it has dropped out of
the creed of Christendom; albeit Christendom, million-mouthed, daily recites
the words the Lord Himself has given us with which to pray for its fulfillment
- "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven." With
the vast majority of Christians that prayer is merely a pious incantation; but
the words are His own, and they shall be realized to the full. And yet, "in our
covert atheism" - to borrow a phrase from Charles Kingsley - those who cherish
this belief are commonly regarded as fanatics.
Indeed the skeptical crusade
which masquerades as "Higher Criticism" began with the assumption that God must
be a cipher in the world which He Himself created; and so every book of
Scripture which records any immediate Divine intervention in human affairs had
to be got rid of. But the atheist, who is more intelligent and logical than
these "Christian" pundits, triumphantly points to the absence of all such
intervention as proof that there is no God at all And the majority even of real
Christians are quite indifferent to the amazing mystery of a silent heaven.
"The mystery of God" it is called in Scripture; and the time is foretold when
"the mystery of God shall be finished." {Revelation 10:7) And, as the Seer
declares, when that time comes, "great voices in heaven" will proclaim that
"the sovereignty of this world is become the sovereignty of our Lord and of His
Christ, and He shall reign." And God will then do that which the thoughtful
wonder He does not do now and always, "He will give their reward to His
servants and to His saints and to all that fear His name, and He will destroy
them that destroy the earth." (Revelation 11:15-18) The first act in that awful
judgment drama will include the doom of the professing Church on earth.
(Revelation 19:2) And when a mighty voice proclaims that "God hath avenged the
blood of His servants at her hand" - the unnumbered myriads of the martyrs -
all heaven raises its hallelujah. And the Seer adds: "I heard as it were the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice
of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth." (Revelation 19:6)
But both the judgment of the Harlot and the
restoration of the Covenant people await the close of the reign of grace. For,
as we have seen, so long as grace is reigning, not only can there be no
punitive action against human sin, but there can be no distinction made between
one class of sinners and another. "There is no difference, for all have
sinned": (Romans 3:22, 23) "There is no difference, for the same Lord is Lord
of all, and is rich unto all that call upon Him." (Romans 10:12, 13) These are
the principles of the reign of grace.
But did not the Lord Himself declare
that "salvation is of the Jews "? And did He not say, "I am not sent but unto
the lost sheep of the house of Israel"? How, then, can we reconcile statements
so conflicting? This question has been already answered on a preceding page.
Grace in its fullness is a "mystery" truth that could not be revealed until the
Covenant people had lost their vantage-ground of privilege. But the same
Scripture which records their "fall" declares with explicit definiteness that
the economy resulting from that fall is abnormal and temporary; and that when
the Divine purposes relating to this present age have been fulfilled, the
covenant people shall be restored and "all Israel shall be saved." (Romans
11)2
It is as clear as light, therefore, that this Christian dispensation
differs as essentially from the future as it does from the past. I have sought
to pillory the belief that earth is merely a recruiting-ground for heaven; but
in a sense this characterizes the present age, marked, as it is, by failure and
apostasy, and ending, as it will, in judgment. But it was not a forecast of
"Christendom religion" that evoked the outburst of praise with which the
dispensational chapters of Romans end. As the Apostles spiritual vision
became filled with the truth of a glorious heavenly purpose which God would
accomplish in spite of sin and failure, he exclaimed, "O the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His
judgments, and His ways past finding out!"
And that purpose is revealed in
"the mystery of Christ," which finds its fullest unfolding in the "Captivity
Epistles"3 - "the mystery which from all ages hath been hid in God" - namely,
that sinners of earth are called to the highest glory of heaven in the closest
possible relationship with Christ. The bridal relationship and glory of the
heavenly election from the earthly people of the covenant might well seem the
acme of everything to which redeemed humanity could ever rise; but this
crowning "mystery" of the Christian revelation speaks of a bond more intimate
and a glory more transcendent. The figure of the Bride betokens the closest
union, but absolute oneness is implied in the figure of the Body.
Some
people regard the Old Testament as entirely superseded by the New, forgetting
that all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable. And others again regard the
New as merely an unfolding of the Old, forgetting that it reveals distinctively
Christian truths of which no trace can be found in the Hebrew Scriptures. And
in this category is "the mystery of Christ." The Apostles words could not
be more explicit: "By revelation He made known unto me the mystery which in
other ages was not made known unto the sons of men." (Ephesians 3:3, 5)
This amazing climax of the New Testament revelation of grace is dragged into
the mire by the Church of Rome, trading as it always does on the teaching of
the Latin Fathers, who claimed for the professing Church all that pertains to
the true and heavenly Church. The Body of Christ is a truth of practical import
for the Christian, profoundly influencing his personal life on earth, and his
relationships with his fellow Christians. But yet "the Church which is His
body" is not on earth, nor can it have a corporate existence until all the
members are brought in, and the Divine purpose respecting it is
accomplished.
The parallel of the bridal relationship of the heavenly
election out of Israel may teach us a lesson here. For it is not until the
future age of the Apocalyptic visions that the Bride is displayed, and her
marriage takes place.4 In like manner the consummation and display of the Body
relationship awaits the coming of the Lord. For in the Divine purpose it is
entirely for the glory of our Lord and Saviour that these elect companies of
the redeemed are given positions of special nearness; and therefore the element
of display has prominence.
Chapter Six
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