Scripture Truth. Vol.27 (1935)

292 Pages·2011·17.64 MB·English

by  J T Mawson

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SCRIPTURE TRUTH
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TWENTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL
VOLUME
1935
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"A glory gilds the sacred page,
Majestic like the sun:
It gives a light to every age,
It gives, but borrows none."
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THE CENTRAL BIBLE TRUTH DEPOT,
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5, ROSE STREET, LONDON, E.C. 4.
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INDEX
Page Page
A A
A fey, Scnpture F<lets A WORM" YET JE-
Jbout Eternal LIfe 162 HOVAH OF HOSTS F B Hole 1°4
Angels' Gospel, The 1°3
B
Answers to Correspondents
Begmmng and the End,
Bethany and the
The 34
Mount of all'eo;; 216
BIOGRAPHY IN PRO
Blessmg of Esau, PHI-"CY A J T Mawson 36
The
BLOOD OF CHRIST, THE CH 1\1 116
Chnst ~ New Name
BRIMFUL OF GOODN~SS T Ohver 203
Cleansmg from all
filthmess of flesh
C
and splnt
Declared Son of God (,ANST THOU BY SEARCH
by the Resurrec ING FIND OUT GOD ~
tIon 166 (poetry) H Wllson 102
Lye Salve 71 CHRIST THE ETERNAL
How can the Church SON ~elected Ior
be both the Bod} CHRISTIAN ESSENTIAl<:, R Turnbull 230
and the Bnde of Church's One Founda
ChnsP bon, The 91
Hundred and forty COM~IUNION J T Mawson 121
four thousand, The COMPASSING THE MOUN-
Interest III the Young TAIN InglIs Flemmg 56
John and Peter at thp CO'\IPRFHE1I.<;IVE VERSF
:,epulchn" 191 A Inghs }lemJllg 195
]ohn the BaptIst not Confidence (poetry) 9
an Apostle Confidence (poetry) 55
Joy at the Lord's CORRESPONDENCE
Supper CLEANSING TertIUS dud Quartus
h.lllgdom of God The CUT DOWN' - 'SET
Must a Chnstian ON HIGH" F B Hole 279
purge himself from
vessels to dlshon
D
our~ 143
Name of God \\ntten Death and the Samts of
on the overcomer God 159
The 95 DEFEAT AND VICTORY F B Hole 151
PIllar In the Temple Dependence upon God 209
A 95 DEPTHS AND HEIGHTS
Place of the Church L A Anderson 138
In the MIllenmum, DE\.CLOPMENT IN THE
The 47 CHRISTIA'II LIFE J T Mawson -19
PropltIatlOn and Sub DIVr"I: DELIGHT H J Vme 32
!otItutlOn 286 DIVINE LOVE A H Storne 267
Question of man's Dn.[NE PRESENCE, THE James Green 189
free wIll The 45
Re\\ard III Heaven 106 E
<..amson ~ Riddle 142
Take up HIS Cross 'EVERY CREATURE OF
daIly" 1<)1 GOD IS GOOD" J T Mav.son 189
Temple of My God
The" F
\\ [ule It IS day-and
the mght }alth, Hope and Love 150
YIeldmg ourselves to FIVE ForD CHALLEI\GE
God and our "dls 71 A E P Bro\\n 221
Authonty and the ... FOREK1I.0WLEDGE OF
\\ord The 161 GOD THE R McCallum 235
Scripture Truth
G Page p :Page
GLORY OF CHRIST, THE J. T. Mawson 225 PRESENCE OF THE HOLY
GOD MOVES BEHIND THE SPIRIT, THE ... Inglis Fleming 16
SCENES ... Inglis Fleming 160 PROMISE, TrIE (poetry) W. M. Corner 192
GOD'S TRIUMPH AND
R
THE DEVIL'S DEFEAT J. T. Mawson I Reason and the \Vord 161
GRACE OF GOD, THE ... D. Ross 225
Receptivity 197
GRACIOUSNESS OF JE-
REVELATION, EXPERI-
HOVAH, THE F.W.G. 165
E~'KE, AND PRACTICE J. T. Mawson 145
GREAT HIGH PRIEST,
Romans I. 120
THE C.H.M. 62 J.
ROYAL BANQUET, THE T. .\la\\'son 193
GREAT SECRET, THE ... W. B. Dick 22
S
H
SALVATION AND SATIS-
HEARKENING TO JAMES F. B. Hole 241 FACTION F. B. Hole IgS
HEART'S DESIRE, THE Saviour's Name, The 2-1-
(poetry) ... A. H. Lycett 190 Servant of the Lord,
He shall divide the The 264
Spoil with the Strong 63 SERVICE (poetry) A. M. Chambers ;)
"HIs STEPS" AND "FOL- SERVICE OF GOD, THE \V. R. Dick 251
LOWING HIS STEPS" F. B. Hole 82 "S01l1E HAVE FALLEN
HOUSE OF THE LORD, ASLEEP" ... ]. T. i\lawson 61
THE F. B. Hole 127 SONSHIP '" J. McBroom
I IIO, 132, 156, 18'i
Spiritual Revelation 188
IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF
GOD, THE ... J. T. Mawson 214 T
Indwelling Spirit, .The Il7 TS).;DER COlSscn:'NCE, A C.H.i\I. 212
"THAT THEY ALL MAY
.'I will in ne. wise cast
BE ONE" ... T. Oliver 43
out" 35
J "THE SON OF MAN"
JEWS AND CANAAN, THE J. T. MawsoIl 92 AND "THE MAN OF
JONATHAN J. Houston 134 THE EARTH" ... F. B. Hole SI
,'The Spirit and the
K Bride say, Come" '" 215
KING, THE: HIS VIC- Two-fold Blessing, The 79
TORY, HIS CORONA- Two-fold Witness, The 210
TION, HIS PALACES ... F. B. Hole 175 THINGS MOST SURELY
BELrEVED ... J. T. l'iIawson
L
No. 8. Atonement by
LAST MESSAGE TO THE Blood 73
CHURCH, THE ... T. Oliver ." 88 No. g. The Resurrec-
LOOKING UNTO JESUS tion of Christ 97
(poetry) J. A. O. Allan 96 No. 10. The Exalta-
Lord's Supplies, The 60 tion of Christ 169
Love of Christ, The ... ISO No. IT. Our Great
Love one Another 213 High Priest 203
N No. 12. The Judge of
Quick and Dead 2;'1
NINE SIMPLE \VORDS Inglis Fleming 115
To BE CONTINUED \V. B. Dick 123
Not Forsaken 50
TREE OF LIFE, THE
NOTES ON JOSEPH J. Houston 181 (poetry) '" J.N.D. 35
Notes on the Philippian
Two YOUNG MEN OF
Epistle 260
SCRIPTURE T. Oliver 20
o
u
,iOur Father" 9 UNWEARIED T"OVE J. T. .YIawson 259
Our Pattern I I 9
W
OUR PROSPECT E.W.T. 15
OUR SHADOW INFLUENCE Inglis Fleming 25:- \Ve ought to obey God 126
What do we remem-
P
ber? 264
PAEAN OF PRAISE, A ... VV. B. Dick 265 \VHAT IS MAl'\? H. \\'ilson ... 270
PARABLE AND A FACT, A J. T. Mawson 168 \VHAT IS REALLY LIFE? A. ]. Pollock 245
Peculiar People, A ... 34 VVHAT IS THE GOSPEL? D. R05s 217
POWER OF GOD, THE J. Purves ... 58 "\Vhen Moses raised his
Prayer 172 hands" 8
Praying Always 259 "\VHO WILL SHOW US
"PREACH HIM" Inglis Fleming 173 ANY GOOD?" ... F. B. Hole 27
PREACH THE RISEN "\VHY DO THE HEATHEN
CHRIST T. T. Mawson lJ6 RAGE?" F. B. Hole ID
PREPARED FOR SERVICE R. McCallum 6 Word of God, The ... II9
Scripture Urutb.
VOL.xxvn
1935
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GOD'S TRIUMPH AND THE DEVIL'S DEFEAT.
J. T. Mawson.
HoW
the devil must hate the will; I will strip him of his nobility,
Epistle to the Ephesians; he rob him of his peace and make
will certainly keep us from reading him hate his Maker, and if I suO'
it if he can, for in no part of the ceed in this desperate enterprise, God
Bible is his complete defeat so in simple justice will be compelled
thoroughly exposed, and the riches to turn him out of Eden and con~
of God's grace so fully revealed. demn him and his progeny to my
It may be the knowledge of this doom in hell, and so shall I gratify
that has made him with devilish a double spite: God will lose the
subtlety make some of us believe man He has created and loves and
that it is an epistle too deep and I shall destroy the man whom I
doctrinal for us. It is neither one hate because God loves him.
nor the other; only let us be in
The Triumph of God's grace to~
the right state of heart before God
wards us.
and we shall exult in it, for the
very reading of it will bless us, even He accomplished his purpose so
if we are unable to fathom the far, and he must have wondered
depths that are in it. Who can do and exulted at the ease with which
that but the Spirit of God? he did it; but what a surprise and
a shock he must have got when first
The devil is probably the greatest
he read this Epistle to the Ephesian
of all the creatures that in the be~
church, and discovered that some
ginning God created, but he has
of the children of fallen Adam could
fallen from his first and high estate
say, .. Blessed be the God and Father
and his heart is full of hatred against
God; he is God's adversary-his of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
blessed us with all spiritual bless~
name Satan means, the adversary
ings in the heavenly places in Christ
and he has set himself deliberately
] esus." The earthly paradise lost,
and desperately to oppose and break
yes, but the heavenly paradise
up every purpose and work of God.
opened; earthly blessing forfeited,
When God created Adam and set
yes, but heavenly blessing bestowed,
him in Eden, and enriched him with
and all those blessings not in a
everything that His infinite bounty
patched up Adam, who might fall
could give, this great foe of God
a second time into the devil's snare,
saw with envious eye that God loved
but in Christ Jesus, where the devil
the man He had made and delighted
cannot touch them and where they
in him, and he plotted to ruin him
can neither fail nor be lost.
and rob God of him; and how well
he appeared to succeed. He pro~ The devil's purpose was to make
bably reasoned: If only I can make man like himself, unholy in nature
that man whom God has favoured and unrighteous in act, and so bring
above all His creatures, doubt His down upon his defiled and guilty
goodness, and disobey His word, soul the wrath of God; what a
and rebel against Him, as I have surprise he must have got when he
clone, then I can do with him as I first read in this Epistle that God
Scripture Truth
hath chosen us in Christ, .. that we hast loved them, as Thou hast loved
should be holy and without blame Me" said our Lord Jesus Christ
before Him in love" (verse 5). Holy to His Father in John 17.
in~tead of sinful; without blame in...
stead of guilty; in love instead of And suppose the devil had stood
under wrath] What a triumph for up and challenged God's right to
God, what a defeat for the devil1 bless us with these infinitely greater
blessings than Adam lost by his sin;
The devil's expectation was that suppose he had said: "They are my
man, when he had sinned, would lawful captives, slaves to sin and
be driven far off from God, as under the condemnation of death,
being for ever unsuited to His. pre::: and your enemies. You cannot bless
sence, every link of relationship with them righteously and You must con",
Him being broken; and that God demn them if You are still to be
would never have His purposed and the just Ruler of the Universe."
longed for delight in the sons of God's answer is, .. In whom [the
men. What a jar he must have got BelovedJ they have redemption
when he read, "Having predesti::: through His blood, even the for",
nated us unto the adoption of children giveness of sins, according to the
by Jesus Christ to Himself, to the riches of My grace " (verse 7). That
praise of the glory of His grace, is conclusive and final; there is no
wherein He hath made us accepted place now for discussion or argu:::
in the Beloved" (verses 5, 6). "A~ ment; it is the last word, and the
cepted in the Beloved"! Not even vindication of God in His mercy
an unfalIen angel could have anti"" before the universe; and as to this
cipated such grace towards men on matter the Accuser is for ever
God's part; and no sin::,convicted silenced. The blood of the Beloved
sinner could have thought of it, and answers every claim, it is the ever:::
we may be sure that it never entered lasting righteous and unassailable
into the head of the devil that God basis of all our blessings, and be::::
would act thus. How could he have cause of it God forgives with an
guessed that his temporary triumph eternal forgiveness and we are re,.
over man would give God the oppor>' deemed from all bondage with an
tunity of lifting man into a closer eternal redemption; the devil is de'"
and more glorious relationship than feated and the exceeding riches of
ever Adam knew, for Adam did God's grace are fully disclosed.
not know God as Father; and that
The Triumph of Chri~t's Resurreclf
they should stand in a favour that
tion.
no creature, either fallen or unlallen
ever stood in before. even the favour Now consider the great conflict
in which the Beloved stands! Acs between God and the devil from
cepted in the Beloved, brought as another side of it. The Son of God
near to God as He is, and to abide became man, sent forth into the
for ever in the favour that rests world by the Father to be its
upon Him1 And this is to be not Saviour, and having come into the
only a blessed secret Ior our own world He had to meet the devil
joy now, but it is to be publicly face to face. We may be sure that
manifested; men, angels and devils the devil resented His presence in
are to see it, That the world may the world of which he is the god
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know that Thou hast sent Me, and and prince, and was determined if
3 God's 1riumph
he could to ensnare Him as he had and fame and exaltation, and to
done the first man. The conflict had obey God was His very life.
to be waged; and Jesus, the Son
of God, met the great Adversary, Now see the result as revealed
who, flushed with 4,000 years of in our Epistle. The lowly Man of
triumph over men, does not seem Sorrows had said, "that the world
to have feared defeat. Jesus met may know that I love the Father,
him, not with His Godhead authority and as He hath gzven Me command~
and power, but in His manhood's ment, even so I do. Arise, let us
lowliness and weakness and His de::: go hence." And that hence was to
pendence upon God. By man had Gethsemane, Gabbatha, Golgotha
come Satan's victory and by man and death. But God has answered
must come his defeat. Let us watch that great obedience and has acted in
this conflict, for the glory of God mighty power towards Christ. He
and our blessing hangs upon its has reached down into the depths
issue. Satan chose his own time of death and has" raised Him from
and battle ground, he appeared in the dead, and set Him at His own
the desert when Jesus was weak with right hand in the heavenly places,
hunger, haying fasted forty days, far above all principality, and power.
but he could not prevail over Him. and might, and dominion, and every
His deftest blows were parried and name that is named, not only in
turned aside by one weapon only, this world, but also in that which
the Word of God. Twice he was is to come: and hath put all things
repulsed but he returned the third under His feet and gave Him to
time to the attack, apparently con::: be Head over all things to the
fident of success, for he knew men church, which is His body, the tul:;
well, and he probably thought, In ness of Him that filleth all in all."
the soul of the Son of God ambition The devil hoped to sway this uni,;:
must lurk as it lurks in the soul of versal sceptre himself by subjugating
every man. If he could only make Christ to his will, but having failed
the prize big enough, for every man in his bold and impious design he
has his price, he would surely gain now finds that the One who refused
his greatest and final triumph. So to be lured from His obedience to
he offered all he had to offer: the God by his wiles, has been set in~
kingdoms of this world and the finitely above him; He has received
glory of them, for one moment's from God a higher honour and a
homage. He would set the Son of greater glory than the devil was
God at the head of all things; he able to offer Him. He has been
would give Him the highest station; made head over all things.
He should reach the pinnacle of
glory by a short and easy way. \Ve may be sure that Satan would
All should be His, if He would like to hide this fact from men; he
but bow down before him and own does not want them to know that
him as the giver. And what the Lamb of Calvary is Lord of
Was the alternative? It was suf::: lords and King of kings, the sceptre
fering, and shame; scourging and of Whose throne is a sceptre of
spitting; it was death, even the death righteousness; he knows that this
of the cross. And the Lord chose exaltation of Christ to the highest
the alternative, for God and His place in the universe is the sure and
glory were more to Him than ease certain pledg€ that all his works will
Scripture Truth 4-
be undone, that his authority over these words describe, yet they arc
men will be for ever broken, and words surely that make our hearts
that he himself will be finally con::: glow, and they have most thoroughly
demned to the lake of Bre. Ephes=, exposed what the devil is. He has
ians 1. 19:::23 is hard reading for been defeated in his efforts to hold
the devil, but it is a most blessed us in everlasting darkness by this
revelation to us who have been de'" revelation of the mercy, the love and
livered by the Father, even now, the grace of God to us through
" from the authority of darkness and Christ Jesus. And being enlightened
translated into the kingdom of the and quickened, and redeemed, and
Son of His love (Col. L 12, 13). sealed by the Holy Ghost, we, with
JJ
all believers, are now the body of
The Triumph of the Churches form~
Christ. He is the Head, we are
ation.
His members, and we share in His
And what of the church which is victories, for even Satan himself shall
here spoken of as the body of shortly be bruised under our feet
Christ? It is made up of those by the God of peace (Romans 16.
who were once dead in trespasses 20).
and sins, of you and me, and our
like, who were children of disobedi"" When we come to chapter 4 we
ence, who walked according to the learn that Christ has ascended up
will of the prince of the power of on high, but that He first descended
the air, and were children of wrath! into the lower parts of the earth.
even, as others (ch. 2). The devil He went down into depths beneath
held us for a while in his power which there was nothing, and has
by the delusion that God was gone up to the highest heights of
against us; that He was a hard glory. There is no realm through
and austere master, to be dreaded which He has not passed triumphant:::
and shunned; which had been the ly, and which He will not fill with
devil's lie from the beginning. But the glory of God. Satan has bitten
that darkness has been dispelled and the dust, he has not been able to
we have been delivered from that hold any realm against Christ. From
lie, for, God who is rich in mercy, the place into which He has gone,
H
for: His great love wherewith He having led the whole power of the
loved us, even when we were dead enemy captive, He has given gifts
in sins hath quickened us together unto men, and this for the building
with Christ (by grace ye are saved:) up of the body of Christ, for the
and hath raised us up together, and deliv'erance of its members from
made us sit together in heavenly every lie of the enemy, for their
places in Christ Jesus: that in the development in the knowledge of
ages to come He might shew the the Son of God, and their unity
exceeding riches of His grace in His and increase in love. And this is
kindness toward us through Christ a present triumph, for in this world
Jesus" (verse 4:::7). "Rich in where hatred and sin abounds, there
mercy," "His great love," "the ex::: are men and women who once be:::
ceeding riches of His grace," and longed to it, but are now no longer
"His kindness towards us through of it, but are members of the body
Christ Jesus," describe for us what of Christ, united to Him their glori:::'
there is in God for us; we may fied Head, and in them His character
have but poorly apprehended what is shining out in the darkness, and
5 God's Triumph
they are edifying one another in church, and for it Christ gave Him~
love. Think of the triumph in that. self. He took all the blame of
their sinfulness and gUilt, and bore
The Triumph of the Churches Rap~
the judgment of it all, and He is
ture. still keeping His church, and sancti~
fying it and cleansing it by the
Thoughts of the church bring that
word, and waiting for the day when
vivid passage as to it in ch. 5, to
He will present it to Himself, all~
mind, and I cannot pass it by. It
glorious in the glory.
tells us, "Christ also loved the
church, and gave Himself for it; How will this come to pass? The
le
that He might sanctify and cleanse Lord Himself shall descend from
it with the washing of watelf by the heaven with a shout, with the voice
lVord, that He might present it to of the archangel, and the trump of
Himself a glorious church, not hav~ God, and the dead in Christ shall
ing spot or wrinkle, or any such rise first: then we which are alive and
thing .. but that it should be holy remain shall be caught up together
and without blemish" (verses 25:::27). with them in the clouds, to meet
Verse 31 is a quotation from Genesis the Lord in the air: and so shall
2 regarding the bringing of Eve to we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thess.
Adam, and our passage carries the 4. 16, 17). We shall meet Him.
mind back to that event. It is well~ But why in the air? The air
known that Adam in his deep sleep is the seat of the devil's power;
is a foreshadowing of Christ in he is the prince of the power of
death; and as the woman was the the air; it is from thence that he
product of that sleep so is the church rules the darkness of this world
a product of the deJth of Christ. and organises its spiritual wicked~
But the devil succeeded in beguiling ness, and it is there that we are to
Eve through his subtilty and she meet our Lord. Could anything
dragged Adam down in her fall; prove more conclusively how com:r
she dragged him so low that he plete is his defeat? Christ wilI
not only disobeyed God, but cast meet His church in the very seat
all the blame of the tragedy upon of Satan's authority and carry it
her whom he ought to have pro~ triumphantly through to His glory.
tected with his very life. " Tht: That will be the day of Christ's
woman whom Thou gavest to be supreme joy on which He will re~
with me, she gave me of the tree, ceive to the embrace of love that
and I did eat," said he. He had passes all knowledge, His ransomed
become a disobedient, selfish, coward~ and glorious church. Satan has
ly sinner. What a contrast to Adam sought to corrupt the church as he
is our Lord Jesus. He said to His corrupted Eve, but Christ has kept
Father, "Those that Thou gavest Me her and will keep her. And the
I have kept, and none of them is presentation day, the day of the
lost" and they, and all who have marriage, will celebrate His triumph
believed through their word, are the and the devil's defeat.
Lord. shouldst Thou lead along a shadowed road.
It is with Thee;
And darker was the path Thy love once trod
Alone, for love of me !
6
PREPARED FOR SERVICE.
R. McCallum.
N oles of an Address to Sunday School Teachers.
Exodus 2; Proverbs 22. 6.
T
HE remarkable history of the beyond estimate is the child who
child Moses may well be a great has godly parents to impart to him
encouragement and inspiration to us his first knowledge of divine things1
as workers among the young. Here No better instruction can come to
was a cast:::out foundling who in any man, no deeper or more lasting
the purposes of God was destined impression can be made than that
to be the leader of God's chosen received at life's dawn from the
people, and for the accomplishment mother wha knows God, and many
of His purposes of grace God ifl. a man of God can thank his Father
wondrous providence used the verv in heaven for the earliest training
faith of the parents. True it is that received in a home of true piety.
the faith of the godliest parents can But alas 1 how many there are, es:;:
never save a child, but faith can pecially in these days, who receive
understand and trust God's pur::: no such early impressions, and we
poses and work for the child's bless::: as Sunday School teachers must re:::
ing. Such faith honours God and gard ourselves as "in loco parentis"
God honours it, and in our present and in faith lay hold of God's
study we see the consummate wis::: purposes of grace for such as come
dom and power of God at work under our care and influence. With
in causing man's wrath to praise God nothing is impossible. He can
Him, the arch:::enemy of God's take the most humble and equip
people being foiled by his own him for the most exalted service,
weapons. The child is taken from in spite of the most determined op:::
the hovel of a slave and placed in position of evil forces. This is the
the palace of the king himself; de::: message of the training of the child
livered from the hands that sought l\10ses. Could we desire more en:::
his death by being placed in the couraging knowledge than this?
only hands that could accomplish
his preservation: a child's tears Secondly, there was the prepara:;:
the eloquent oratory of a mere babe tion received in the palace of the
-the appeal of weakness touching King, the preparation received from
a heart that was doubtless unaffected Egypt's learning. A questionable
by the calamities of a nation, so equipment maybe, from some points
that the Divine intention for His of view, for it is admittedly diffi:;:
people might be achieved. cult to weigh the benefits against
the disabilities resulting from train.."
There was a three:::fold prepara:;: ing obtained in Egypt. Difficult
tion for the work to which God often, admittedly, to say whether
was calling him. Firstly, there was ultimate good or harm will accrue
the instruction received at his to the servant of God by his train:;:
mother's knee-a simple, intense and ing in the Colleges of this world.
prayerful course. Short, one might Be assured of this, my dear young
be tempted to think, to the point friend, that your usefulness in the
of fruitlessness, yet signally cared service of God will not depend on
for and blessed of God. Fortunate the quality of your degree in Science