Our Day.
by W. A. Spicer.
FOREWORD
These are eventful times. With history-making changes pa.s.sing rapidly before men"s eyes, the questions press upon thoughtful minds in all lands, What do these things mean? What next in the program of world-shaping events?
Like a great searchlight shining across the centuries, the sure Word of Prophecy focuses its bright beams upon Our Day. In this light we see clearly the trend of events, and may understand what comes next in the program of history fulfilling prophecy.
In the Volume of the Book the living G.o.d speaks to Our Day of events of the past that have a lesson for the present, and of things to come.
Divine prophecy fulfilled before men"s eyes is G.o.d"s challenge to unbelief. The Word of Holy Writ has been the guiding light through all the ages. It is the lamp to our feet today.
"Steadfast, serene, unmovable, the same, Year after year,...
Burns on forevermore that quenchless flame; Shines on that inextinguishable light."
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GOOD SHEPHERD
"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." John 1:14.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: "PEACE BE TO THIS HOUSE"
"If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." Rev. 3:20.]
THE BOOK THAT SPEAKS TO OUR DAY
Man may write a true book, but only G.o.d, the source of life, can write a living book. "The word of G.o.d ... liveth and abideth forever." 1 Peter 1:23. The Bible is the living word of G.o.d. We look at the volume; we hold it in our hands. It is like other books in form and printer"s art.
But the voice of G.o.d speaks from these pages, and the word spoken is alive. It is able to do in the heart that receives it what can be done only by divine power.
The Book That Talks
Far in the heart of Africa a missionary read to the people in their own language from the translated Word of G.o.d. "See!" they cried; "see! the book talks! The white man has a book that talks!" With that simplicity of speech so common to children of nature, they had exactly described it. This is a book that talks. What the wise man says of its counsels through parents to children, is true of all the book: "When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee." Prov. 6:22.
Here is companionship, faithful and true, a blessed guide and guardian and friend.
"Holy Bible! book divine!
Precious treasure, thou art mine!"
G.o.d Its Author
The sixty-six books of Holy Scripture were written by many penmen, over a s.p.a.ce of fifteen centuries; yet it is one book, and one voice speaks through all its pages. Spurgeon once said of his experience with this book:
"When I see it, I seem to hear a voice springing up from it, saying, "I am the book of G.o.d; man, read me. I am G.o.d"s writing; open my leaf, for I was penned by G.o.d; read it, for He is my author.""
This book declares of itself: "All scripture is given by inspiration of G.o.d." 2 Tim. 3:16. "The prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of G.o.d spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 1:21. As the rugged verse of the old hymn puts it:
"Let all the heathen writers join To form one perfect book: Great G.o.d, if once compared with Thine, How mean their writings look!
"Not the most perfect rules they gave Could show one sin forgiven, Nor lead a step beyond the grave; But Thine conducts to heaven."
It is the voice of the Almighty. Very different it is from the sacred books of the non-Christian religions. In those writings it is man speaking about G.o.d; in the Holy Scriptures it is G.o.d speaking to man.
The difference is as great as heaven is higher than earth. Here it is not man groping in the darkness after G.o.d. In this book of G.o.d"s revelation we see the divine arm reaching down to save the lost, and hear the voice of the loving Father calling to His children, every one and everywhere. "Incline your ear," He calls; "hear, and your soul shall live." Isa. 55:3.
The Word That Creates
We must have something more than instruction; we must have a word of power that is able to tell of sins forgiven, and to conduct us beyond the grave to heaven. One of the greatest of China"s sages, Mencius, said, "Instruction can impart information, but not the power to execute." That touches the crucial point. We must have instruction that can come with power divine to execute. We have it only in G.o.d"s words.
Christ said: "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." John 6:63.
The words of G.o.d are living words. When G.o.d spoke in the beginning, "Let there be light," lo, the light sprang out of the darkness. There was power in the word spoken to bring forth. "Let the earth bring forth gra.s.s," was the word of the Lord: and the earth was carpeted with its first rich greensward. So through all the work of creation, the creative power was in the word spoken.
"By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." "He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast." Ps. 33:6, 9.
Even so, when this word speaks instruction to man, there is creative power in the word, if received, to work mightily in the soul that is dead in trespa.s.ses and sins. Man must be born again, be re-created. That we know; for Christ says, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again ["from above," margin], he cannot see the kingdom of G.o.d."
John 3:3.
And the word of G.o.d--the Bible from heaven--received by faith, is the agency by which this new birth "from above" is wrought. This is the declaration of our text: "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of G.o.d, which liveth and abideth forever."
1 Peter 1:23.
[Ill.u.s.tration: HEALING THE CENTURION"S SERVANT
"Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." Matt. 8:8.]
The Word That Works Within
Not only does the word of G.o.d give the new birth, making the believer a new man,--the past forgiven and a new heart within,--but the word that re-creates abides in the believing heart that studies it and clings to it, to work in the life with actual power that is not of the man himself. To the Thessalonians, who had "turned to G.o.d from idols to serve the living and true G.o.d," the apostle wrote:
"For this cause also thank we G.o.d without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of G.o.d which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of G.o.d, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." 1 Thess. 2:13.
The word itself works within, and works effectually. There is nothing mechanical about it. The mere letter profits nothing. The Bible on the center table, unstudied and unloved, has no magic power. But G.o.d promises to abide by His Spirit of power in the heart that listens to His voice and trembles at His word. Jesus Himself tells us the secret of this power of the word to work in the believing heart:
"If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." John 14:23.
No wonder, then, that believing and receiving the word brings divine power into the life, making it possible for transformations of character to be wrought, for victories to be won and obedience rendered to every command of G.o.d.
Simply believing G.o.d"s word touches the current of everlasting power, even as the trolley arm of the electric car reaches up and touches the current of power flowing through the wire overhead. The faith that takes the living word brings the power divine into the heart to move all the spiritual mechanism of life"s service.
The Word Our Safety and Defense
When Christ came to live as our example in the flesh, and to give His life a sacrifice for sin, He, the divine Son of G.o.d, made Himself like unto His brethren. "I can of Mine own self do nothing," He said. John 5:30. Tempted and tried, He found His defense in the Holy Scriptures.