THE SEVEN LETTERS
OR, A DIVINE CHURCH HISTORY
Part I.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
The law of cycles in the works of
God equally manifested in the Word of God - Illustrations: The Tabernacle, The
Transfiguration, The ever widening royal dignities of Christ - The book of
Revelation not merely an end, but a beginning; another Genesis: Correspondences
- Two principles of interpretation, historical and futurist - Not really
opposed: truth in both; yet a divine axiom as to all interpretations.
On all sides are we surrounded by infinity. In time, we may send our swift
thoughts back and ever back, but still an eternal past stretches beyond the
furthest possible flight of our feeble minds. So forward, eternity necessarily
lies before us there. We can conceive of no limit or bound, for we at once say
there must be another side to that boundary, and so it vanishes. Equally so in
space:- above, below, on every side there is boundless infinity: an
overwhelming thought to our spirit, and yet the only thought in harmony with
its powers of reasoning. True reason thus necessarily recognizes in every
sphere what is beyond her powers, and is humbled to her own place.
Further, looking at the works of God with the awe and reverence with which they
were surely intended to fill the mind of man, we find in them a harmonious
principle of cycles, as we may term it, and this too with no end that we can
compass. Systems, complete in themselves, as our earth and its satellite, the
moon, yet fill a. place in completing larger ones, as the solar system, and
this similarly serves, and is only one unit among many in forming, other and
still larger systems, and so on till the mind reels, refuses to be urged, and
falls back instinctively whispering, "What is man?" but adding too, with the
marvel of faith, "that Thou art thindful of him!"
If this is true in
the works of God, shall there be no evidence of a similar principle in His
Word? Shall there not be smaller spheres of Revelation which, whilst complete
in themselves, yet serve, and have their place only as servants, in nobler
spheres, of which, too, they form, at least in some cases, patterns?
As
a partial illustration of what I mean take that beautiful dwelling of Jehovah
in the midst of Israel in the wilderness, "The Tabernacle." Only one man was
qualified to build it, for to Moses alone had its proportions been revealed,
and even he is repeatedly warned to make it according to the pattern that had
been shown him in the mount. In the mount was a pattern of what was to be God's
dwelling on the earth, and this was in its turn to serve but as a sample and
shadow of heavenly things, and "of that true tabernacle which the Lord pitched
and not man." (Heb. viii). It was complete in itself, yet does it, in the most
beautiful way, enable us to grasp truths that might otherwise be
incomprehensible. And we may find, if I err not, many such patterns spread out
for us in the earlier portion of God's Word, that shall enable us to interpret,
and by which we may square our interpretation of, the other ones.
And,
since this is an important principle, if true, I would give another example of
it. Look at that beauteous scene on "the holy mount" (Matt. xvii). Do you think
it is given us with no other purpose than simply as an interesting incident in
our Lord's life? Nay, surely, it is a pattern of a kingdom yet to come in
power; for so one of the actual spectators speaks of it when he says: "For we
have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His
majesty."
There in that night scene, was a picture complete in itself,
yet a pattern of a coming kingdom, and we do well to reject every
interpretation of prophecy as to this kingdom and glory, that does not square
in every feature with this divinely-given pattern seen in the mount. That
kingdom will have a place for a heavenly people (as Moses and Elias) and for an
earthly people (as Peter, James, and John), for Saints who have been raised
from among the dead (as Moses) and for "changed" saints who have never died (as
Elias); for Jesus as the Sun, the Light, the Centre of the whole lovely scene,
and for God, unseen indeed, but whose voice is to be heard directing all
attention, all knees to bow, to His beloved One. Seven Persons giving a
complete Picture.
See the principle true in the royal dignities of the
Lord Jesus. He is Son of David, and, as such, Israel's throne is His. But
coming to His own They received Him not. Then shall He have a still larger
sphere of royalty; and as "Son of Man," all the kingdom put under the first
man's hand, shall be given Him. By judgment He shall purge His kingdom, and
shall be crowned with glory and honour, all of earth put under His feet (Ps.
viii). But do the nations of the four quarters of the earth reject Him, and, as
Gog and Magog, dispute His sway? (Rev. xx.) Then shall He have a wider, nobler
sphere still. Heaven and earth shall flee away, and as Son of God shall He be
King of the whole universe, everything in heaven and earth and under the earth
bowing the knee to Him. Then, all being in the harmony of subjection, He
delivers "up the Kingdom to God, even the Father." (x Cor. xv.) The smaller
spheres are patterns of, and included in the larger. "So hath God greatly
purposed."
These thoughts are but introductory to the first three
chapters of the book called Revelation, and beautifully harmonious with these
principles is the very title - the only divinely given title in the whole of
the New Testament. It is naturally and clearly the last book, the closing book
of the inspired Scriptures. Here we come to the end. But is it like the close
of a creature's life? Is it the quiet, decent end of something mortal and dead?
Do we see the eyelids closed, as it were, and the cold hands of the dead
Scriptures folded, telling us to put the book away - it is but limited after
all - it is finished - a dead book? Nay, indeed, nay. It is the end; but it is
only the beginning. It is another Genesis, only in, and of, a wider, nobler
sphere. It is a door that is placed at the end of one creation; but the door
opens, and fairer, nobler scenes still stretch on out to infinity before us.
THERE IS NO END WITH GOD!
It is, indeed, a Genesis, and the first
Genesis provides patterns for the last. We are accustomed to look upon the
first creation, or perhaps we had better say that scene so beautifully ordered
for the first man, as having no other purpose than that. But our last book
shows us that all things in this were only formed with another, grander, wider
aim. That Sun is in every sense but a shadow of a living and an infinitely
brighter One. The moon and stars have other services than to give light by
night to this little earth; they, too, are pictures or patterns. Trees, rivers,
mountains, plains - Adam himself and his bride are all patterns, and to find
the true meaning of all we must await the very last book of the "system:"
Revelation. Well named is it, for now unseen realities that have only been
shadowed, begin to be spread out before us - never again to pass away.
How many of the controversies that have ruled, alas, amongst the Lord's beloved
people, have been due to a narrow way of limiting the thoughts of God, and
seeking to confine or bind them by our Own apprehension of them. How often, two
or more, apparently, opposing systems of interpretation may really both be
correct; the breadth, and length, and height, and depth of the mind of God
including and going beyond both of them. Not always, of course, is this the
case, nor must it be permitted to furnish the least excuse for any of the
positive errors that are abounding in our day, but apart from these, our book
affords clear evidence of the truth of what is said.
For, as we come
to it, we are met almost at once by at least two opposing doctors, each
claiming the whole truth for himself; each warning us solemnly against having
anything to do with the other. The one insists that the greater part of the
prophecy has now been fulfilled in the history of the prophetic earth, or the
sphere of the Roman Empire and bids us study some historian of earth to find
the fulfilment of the book. The other, that the greater part of the prophecy
remains yet unfulfilled altogether, and awaits a mighty change in the present
condition of things before it can be fulfilled at all. The two schools are
called Historical and Futurist. Well, this at first sight is not encouraging,
and many have foolishly turned back at once from any further consideration of a
book, on which there can be such wide differences. It may be our happiness,
however, to be peacemakers in some degree at least between the two, and taking
their opposing hands in ours say, "God's truth includes you both; there is room
and need for you both. As in days long past your ancestor, Dr. Historical,
might have insisted that John the Baptist was indeed the Elias "which was for
to come," whilst yours, Dr. Futurist, would insist that this was impossible,
and a truer, more effective, more real Elias must still be looked for to
restore all things, and both would have been correct; so today, both of you
have truth, but the truth of God goes beyond, and includes you both."
Yet, whilst admitting this, there is another axiom, or basal truth, that is of
profound value to us in the study of prophecy, which one may feel sure will not
be disputed by any mind, in the least spiritual. That system of interpretation
that hangs us most dependently on the Lord must ever take the foremost place,
whilst that which makes us dependent on fallible, contradictory human history,
with its hundred tongues and consequent uncertainty, must pass into the
background, as holding us in the sphere of the shadows or patterns rather than
in that of the realities. Were it not so, surely God's principle would have
changed altogether, and the poor "babes" would have little hope of knowing what
must necessarily be confined to the learned: "the wise and prudent." No longer
could at least one text of Scripture be of force "ye need not that any man
should teach you," for absolutely dependent should we be on men for every word
of teaching we could get from these pages. The "knowledge that puffeth up"
would be at a premium; the "unction from the Holy one" at a discount! Nor by
this is it intended to put aside the ministry of true learning or nullify our
indebtedness to it. We should have no Scriptures in our mother-tongue at all
but for this. The patient research, the reverent labour, the humble study are
not to be despised, but honoured in their own place; but this must ever be a
dependent one, and held subordinate to Him who is here to "lead into all
truth." The grave danger, ever and always is of this dependence, not only being
lost sight of, but practically repudiated by man's proud spirit, and then we
have darkness and confusion everywhere. Again, it may be safely added, that
that interpretation that maintains a people that have exclusively a heavenly
calling, in an attitude alone consistent with this calling; not turned aside
from our heavenly hope by looking for the prior intervention of events of
earth; but with mind set on things above, in constant readiness and hope of His
immediate return :-such an interpretation must commend itself, as being the
primary one and most harmonious with the revealed purposes of God.
Go to Chapter Two