There are eleven verses in the Book of the Law beginning and ending with "N," there are forty verses in which "Lo" is read three times--and so on, and so on.
How tedious and meaningless such information appears! Of what value were all these details?
To spend all his days in learning such things as these could have no influence on a man"s character, nor make him a power for good in the world. Not for this purpose had G.o.d revealed His will to man.
Some years ago in the coffin of an Egyptian mummy, a little jar of wheat was found. For thousands of years it had lain there, shut up in the dark, while out in the fields the corn which had been sown had grown up and been reaped every year, and men and women had been fed.
But this jar of corn was useless, because it had been prevented from doing the work in the world for which it was created.
Just so was it with the Hebrew copies of G.o.d"s Word. Locked up in a dead language, kept close, away from the world, they were like the jar of wheat which could not grow.
But meanwhile G.o.d"s Book was growing in the wide fields beyond. While the Jews were keeping safe the _letters_ of the Old Testament, the New Testament was beginning to do its mighty work in the great heathen cities of the world.
[1] Josephus: "Wars," Books v. and vi.
CHAPTER X
THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
[Ill.u.s.tration: (drop cap T) Coin of Thessalonica]
Turn to the list of books given in the beginning of your New Testament.
You will see that first come the four Gospels, or glimpses of the Saviour"s life given by four different writers. Then follows the Acts of the Apostles, and, lastly, after the twenty-one epistles, the volume ends with the Revelation.
Now this is not the order in which the books were written--they are only arranged like this for our convenience.
The first words of the New Testament were written, not as we should have supposed by one of the twelve apostles, or by some one who had loved and followed the Lord Jesus Christ when He was upon earth. They are written by a Pharisee who had been one of Christ"s bitterest enemies.
Though Saul had, as far as we know, never seen the Saviour on earth, what he had heard of His work and teaching made him feel that in stamping out all the followers of the so-called Messiah, he would be doing G.o.d service. But we remember how the Saviour Himself appeared to Saul on his way to Damascus, and how his heart was changed, and his eyes were opened.
We can scarcely imagine the transformation which came over his mind.
Together with all the other learned Jews he had considered Jesus of Nazareth to be an impostor, and to blaspheme the words of G.o.d"s Holy Book when He applied them to Himself. Now Saul the Pharisee understood that he and his countrymen, not Jesus of Nazareth, were at fault. As he read the old prophesies he understood their true meaning, "_and straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of G.o.d._" (Acts ix. 9.)
Then the full tide of Jewish anger turned upon him. That he should join the followers of the despised Nazarene and forsake the sacred traditions of the Law made all the Jews scattered through the then-known world into his bitterest enemies.
Paul, as he was afterwards called, loved his countrymen with a pa.s.sionate love. He would gladly have died for them,[1] and that he should be unable to show them what was so clear to himself, was certainly the greatest sorrow and disappointment of his life. But though he was unable to help his countrymen, as a nation, G.o.d made him the most successful missionary-traveller the world has ever known, and to him was given the privilege of writing a large part of the New Testament.
Before we think about his writings, however, let us look at the condition of the great heathen cities of the world at the time when he lived.
In the year A.D. 54, that is, twenty years after our Saviour"s death upon the cross, the Emperor Nero, who is still remembered as one of the worst men who ever lived, began to reign in Rome.
For many years the Roman Emperors had been masters of all the then-known nations, and for awhile they had ruled justly; but ever as the Roman Empire increased in power and riches, the Roman rulers grew more haughty and selfish, until at last they cared for nothing but their own pleasures, and spent their days in drinking and feasting, wasting enormous sums in senseless extravagance, while thousands of their subjects starved.
A dreadful city Rome must have been in those days, though to look at she was beautiful indeed.
A city of marble palaces, of fair white statues and green gardens; of huge public baths and theatres. On one side stood an enormous building, with a round s.p.a.ce in the centre, and tiers of seats rising one above another like a circus. This was an amphitheatre, where shows and performances were given.
There were no sham combats in a Roman circus; no mere pretence of being wounded. Men fought with men in stern reality; worse still, men were made to fight with wild beasts. Lions and tigers, and fierce bulls tore and gored men to death, while the audience leaned back in their comfortable seats, watching the horrible scenes intently.
Every rich man in Rome at the time of which we write owned hundreds of slaves, who were the absolute property of their owners.
A slave-girl who arranged her mistress"s hair badly was burnt with a hot iron. If a slave-boy broke a costly vase his master might whip him to death, or have him thrown into a tank full of ravenous fish. There was no limit to the master"s power.
Although millions of people had scarcely a rag to cover them, or a crust to eat, the rich people flung their gold away on useless trifles.
Indeed, a kind of compet.i.tion existed among them as to who could waste his money the most foolishly.
"Nightingales sing more sweetly than any other bird," thought one of these. "I have it. I"ll order a dish of nightingales" tongues for my feast next week; that will be something rare and expensive indeed!"
All his friends were charmed with the new idea, and nightingales"
tongues became quite the fashion.
But all the time, in this mighty city, so black with sin, so red with cruelty, the pure white light of the Gospel of Christ had begun to shine.
"Gospel" means good news. The story of Jesus was blessed news indeed, for the suffering, hopeless people. As yet all unnoticed by the rulers of the heathen world, the little band of Christians was ever increasing.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THESSALONICA: NOW CALLED SALONICA. IT WAS TO THE CHRISTIANS OF THIS TOWN THAT PAUL WROTE HIS FIRST EPISTLE]
From Jerusalem the good news had spread to Rome and to numbers of other heathen cities. The Apostle Paul had preached and gained little groups of converts in Thessalonica and Philippi and other strongholds of evil, and in the year when Nero became Emperor of Rome, the first words of the New Testament were written.
It happened in this way: St. Paul was in Greece, carrying on the war for Christ in the very centre of the idol-worshippers. Most of the Roman ideas of the false G.o.ds had come from Greece. In Athens and Corinth the most beautiful buildings were heathen temples, and not a house in the whole land was without its images.
Paul had preached at Athens and Corinth, but in the very midst of his difficult work he heard that the little band of faithful followers he had left behind in the city of Thessalonica were in great trouble.
They had no books to help them except the Old Testament, written in Greek. Although they had tried hard to remember his words, many things still perplexed them. Besides, the Jews living in the city were their bitterest enemies, and had so stirred up the people against them, that they were in constant danger of losing their lives.
Would not their great leader tell them what they ought to believe, and how they ought to live?
Paul loved these Thessalonians, and longed to go to them. But he could not leave his work in Corinth. What then was he to do?
He could write a long letter to them, bidding them to "_Stand fast in the Lord_." (1 Thessalonians iii. 8.) To remember that G.o.d had called them "_unto Holiness_." (1 Thessalonians iv. 7.) Paul did not need to remind them to love one another, for that G.o.d Himself had taught them.
(Verse 9.)
He told them, too, not to sorrow hopelessly for those who had died for Christ, for when Christ returns, as He surely will, those who have loved Him shall rise first to meet Him, and so be with Him for evermore. "_Wherefore, comfort one another with these words._" (Verse 18.)
We can imagine how eagerly the Thessalonian converts listened to the letter. We see, too, that the first Christian doc.u.ment ever written contained the full Gospel message, and that the heathen had already "_turned to G.o.d from idols to serve the living and true G.o.d; and to wait for His Son from Heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come._" (1 Thessalonians i. 9, 10.)
A few months later the Thessalonians were once more in great perplexity.
"What are we to believe?" they had asked. "Paul tells us plainly that Christ will return to the earth. How can we settle down to our ordinary work with such a wonderful hope before us?"
From the answer which the Apostle sent to their questions--which we call to-day the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians--we can see clearly how troubled they must have been.
In order to understand their position we must remember that the words and acts of the Lord Jesus Christ had not as yet been written down, and all that the Thessalonians knew about Him was from Paul"s preaching and teaching. They could not turn to their Bibles as you can when you long to know just what the Saviour would have you do.