Truth Magazine

By Connie W. Adams

Jesus did not come into the world to stay physically. When he offered his blood as a sacrifice for sins, once and for all, his divine mission in the world was finished. In the shadow of the cross, Jesus said in prayer to the Father, “I have finished the work which thou gayest me to do” (John 17:4). Then he added in verse 11, “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee.” Notice that statement “but these are in the world.” Jesus had chosen twelve ordinary men to train to do his work when he would no longer be in the world. He had chosen Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddeus, Simon, and Judas. Judas later betrayed him and in a moment of remorse, committed suicide. Matthias was chosen to replace him. A few years later, Paul was chosen, out of due season, to serve as an apostle to the Gentiles.

Jesus sent them on a limited commission “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:6). This anticipated a much larger task to which they were sent later. In the prayer of Jesus in John 17, our Lord said, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou host sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world” (John 17:17-18). After his resurrection Jesus said to them, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). That brings us to the very meaning of the word “apostle.” An apostle is one sent. He is one who goes on the business of the one who sends him. The relation of the apostles to divine authority is seen from several vantage points.

Binding and Loosing

Jesus said to all of the apostles, “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 18:18). The New American Standard Version translates the tense of the verbs with great accuracy as follows: “shall have been bound in heaven” and “shall have been loosed in heaven.” This conforms to Psalms 119:89: “Forever, 0 Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.” We cannot escape the force of this. The apostles would be involved in the work of making known the settled will of God in heaven. Their work was of the greatest importance and their word to be respected.

Guided by the Spirit

These men would not be left to their own devices in such an important work. “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you” (John 16:7). Earlier Jesus had said “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26). Later Paul said “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things yea, the deep things of God .. . Which things we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth … But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor.2:9-16). What the apostles taught as they were guided by the Spirit was not human wisdom. It was the word of God “settled in heaven.”

Sins Remitted and Sins Retained

Jesus appeared in the gathering of his apostles who huddled behind closed doors in fear, his first appearance to all of them except Thomas since his resurrection earlier that day. After saying, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you”. . . he “breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit: Whose sins ye remit they are remitted unto them; and whose sins ye retain, they are retained” (John 20:21-23). When Jesus “breathed on them” and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit,” he employed a fitting gesture to indicate what would occur when the Spirit would come upon them to lead and guide them into all truth. Inspiration means “God breathed.” Jesus “breathed on them.” I know he did not then and there impart the Spirit as their guide for later in Acts 1:8 he said, “Ye shall receive power after the Holy Spirit is come upon you.” It was not until Pentecost that they began to speak “as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). But what Jesus said to them is urgent. As they would go forth to speak under the direction of the Holy Spirit, they would present the terms on which God would remit sins. He charged them to go and preach the gospel to every creature and said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:15-16). On Pentecost Peter said, “Re-pent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). The terms of the Great Commission were to be preached in all the world until the end of the age. Upon obedient faith to that message delivered by them, lost men and women would have their sins remitted. But those who refused the message would have their sins retained. They would not be forgiven. What an awesome task these men had.

On Thrones-Judging

To these men Jesus said, “In the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matt. 19:28). First, notice that the time of the “regeneration” is when the Son of man sits upon the throne of his glory. That time is now. Peter announced that he is seated at the right hand of God exalted (Acts 2:33). The “regeneration” is the time when people are being regenerated  born again. Jesus said all who enter the kingdom must be “born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). Paul called this “the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). They would judge over the “twelve tribes of Israel,” the entirety of God people. In the Old Testament the tribes were divided and scattered. But the apostles would have power to declare the terms of divine pardon to the entirety of people who would serve God. Those who speak from thrones speak authoritatively and we ought to listen.

Ambassadors for Christ

Paul said, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christs stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). In the same context, where Paul defends his apostolic work, he said that Christ had committed to “us the ministry of reconciliation” (v. 18) and “hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (v. 19). Those who had the work of reconciliation and who had the word of reconciliation (the service and the word by which lost people could have peace with God), were the same ones who were the “ambassadors for Christ.” An ambassador represents the power that sends him forth. He is equipped with the necessary credentials to establish his identity as an authorized representative of those who sent him. Their credentials were the miracles, wonders, and signs they were given to use. Paul said, “Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds” (2 Cor. 12:12). To refuse an ambassador is to insult the power that sent him. Indeed Jesus said, “He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me” (John 13:20). Refuse the apostles and you have refused Jesus Christ who sent them. Further, to refuse what they said by inspiration is to refuse the Holy Spirit who guided them to say it.

Treasure in Earthen Vessels

It is in this vein that we must consider what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:7: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” Please notice the preceding verse. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). The “earthen vessels” of this context were the apostles, those ordinary men whom Jesus chose for such extraordinary work. The “treasure” placed in those vessels, was the “light” of divine inspiration of verse 6. How did that light get into these vessels? God commanded it to shine out of darkness. The mystery of Old Testament times was finally to be illuminated. As prophecy was said to be a “light shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star appear in your hearts” (2 Pet. 1:19), even so now the divine light of inspiration was shined into the hearts of these vessels of earth to equip them for their work as the Lord’s ambassadors. This light was the light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. It reflected the glory of God “in the face of Jesus Christ.” The excellency of the power was not of Paul nor the other apostles, for the light was divine. It was the message of heaven entrusted to these ambassadors.

What they taught by inspiration is just as much the will of Christ as what Jesus said in the sermon on the mount. Hear Paul one more time: “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that write unto you are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Cor. 14:37). Let’s face it folks, if we “major in the gospels and minor in the epistles” we are going to minimize what the Lord Jesus gave his apostles to say through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We must not reject those whom our Lord sent.

Guardian of Truth XL: 10 p. 3-4
May 16, 1996

By Ron Halbrook

Revelation 3:17-18 pictures a proud church like a poor, diseased man with inadequate clothes. If the church repented, Christ would supply every spiritual need, “that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.” This figurative use of inadequate clothing is based on the concept of the shame of nakedness and on the failure of some people to recognize this shame.

Nakedness may refer to nudity or to inadequate clothing. Adam and Eve were first nude but then partially clothed with “aprons” (girdle, loin-covering; Gen. 3:7). God replaced this inadequate clothing with “coats,” proper and adequate garments “generally with sleeves, coming down to the knees” (v. 21; Gesenius, Hebrew & Chaldee Lexicon, 420). God replaced their shorts with garments covering from the shoulders down to the knees to cover the shame of their nakedness.

To uncover or see nakedness is a euphemism for sexual intercourse (Lev. 18:6; 20:17). Nakedness with its sexual appeal and implications is a blessing in marriage, but a curse and shame when displayed outside marriage. There-fore, in addition to outer robes, the priests wore pants reaching from the waist to the knees  “breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach” (Exod. 28:42). Even heathen women knew the embarrassment of lifting their skirts to cross a river  “make bare the leg, uncover the thigh. . . . Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen” (Isa. 47:2-3). Exposing the thighs reveals the shame of nakedness.

God commanded women to “adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works” (1 Tim. 2:9-10). Shamefacedness or shamefastness is an innate sense of honor which “shrinks from over passing the limits of womanly reserve and modesty, as well as from the dishonor” of such an act (Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, pp. 63-68). It is “a sense of shame” or “`modesty which is “fast” or rooted in the character”‘ (Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, IV:17).

Modesty, shamefacedness, and sobriety deeply rooted in a woman’s character cause her to shrink back from exposing the shame of her nakedness. This shame is exposed before men by her wearing skirts and shorts above the knees, miniskirts, low cut dresses and blouses (front or back), strap-less or backless dresses, swimsuits, tube or tank tops, tight or formfitting attire (leotard, bicycle shorts, etc.), and the generally abbreviated uniforms worn by majorettes, cheer-leaders, and flag or drill teams. A man in shorts revealing his thighs and without a shirt exposes the shame of his nakedness to women.

The sin of exposed nakedness is fraught with dangers. It creates temptations for the opposite sex, sears the con-science, and refuses the truth of God’s word (Matt. 18:6-7; Jer. 6:15; Hos. 8:12). It weakens the home by causing parents to fail in their duty to their children, or children to rebel against parental leadership (1 Sam. 3:13; Deut. 21:18-21). When Christians are guilty, they conform to the world, start down the road of apostasy, set the wrong example, and bring shame on Christ and his church (Rom. 12:2; Judg. 2:10; Matt. 5:13-16; Eph. 5:26-27). Souls will be lost over such sins (Gal. 5:19-21).

Christ can clothe us spiritually and teach us to dress properly when people in the world repent and are baptized to be forgiven through his blood, or when erring Christians re-pent and pray forgiveness (Acts 2:38; 8:22).

Guardian of Truth XL: 10 p. 5
May 16, 1996

 

They read the “Journal” and the “News,”

The “Green Book” and the “Red,”

They kept the serials of the month

Securely in their head.

They went through books both old and new,

Best sellers, too, they thought;

They read the jokes and studied styles;

No item went for naught.

They read the sporting page; they knew

Each athlete by name;

They read of baseball, football, golf;

Familiar with each game.

They looked the funny paper through;

They watched the mails to seize

The magazine they like the best,

Whose columns most did please.

But in their home there was a book

With pages never turned,

Whose message of truth and hope

Was still by them unlearned 

The Book that tells of Him who came

To earth that we might know

The beauty of a sinless life,

Lived here so long ago.

 AUTHOR UNKNOWN

(From the bulletin of Westside Church of Christ, Salem, Indiana)

Guardian of Truth XL: 10 p. 13
May 16, 1996

By Norman E. Fultz

Urbanization has whittled away all but nine acres of what used to comprise the 1,000 acre White Haven plantation in St. Louis County. The beautiful old mansion which dates back to 1818 still stands and is being renovated and restored to its 1870s appearance when it was bought by then President Ulysses S. Grant from his father-in-law, Frederick Dent. Intending to retire there, this former Civil War general never realized that dream. He lost the estate in 1885 when a business venture turned sour. He died of throat cancer a short time later.

To preserve anything that might contribute to a better knowledge of White Haven’s historical past, an archaeologist, hired by the National Park Service which now owns it, is searching in and around the house for artifacts. The excavated dirt is sifted through fine wire screens which, it is hoped, will leave behind historical objects. A pile of sifted dirt that had been excavated from below the floor of the kitchen, used by the Dent’s slaves before they were freed at the end of the war, has shown that the screens do not catch everything. Several weeks after being piled outside, the dirt had a plant growing from it. “The plant turned out to be tobacco which was grown on the plantation in the mid1800s. It’s possible the seed lay dormant for more than a century and then sprouted,” according to the archaeologist, quoted in Rural Missouri, November 1995.

With a view to identifying the variety of the tobacco and to prove that “it’s in-deed a plant from the past,” the Park Service moved the plant indoors to grow it to maturity.

Well, now that’s interesting, don’t you think? But you know what? Whatever variety of plant produced that seed is the variety that will be produced by that seed even though more than a hundred years have passed and even if a hundred other varieties have been developed by the ingenuity of man since that seed fell to its protected resting place in the dry soil. From the beginning it has been the herb yielding seed after its kind” which seed will then produce “after its kind” (Gen. 1:11-12).

It is because of the law of the seed producing after its kind that the restoration principle in religion is workable. Jesus declared that the word is the seed of the kingdom (cf. Matt. 13:19; Luke 8:11). When that pure word is sown in the fertile soil of honest hearts, the result will be citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Being the “incorruptible seed” (1 Pet. 1:23), the word of God will produce the kingdom though a thousand years has transpired and even if men have, by their additions and deletions, brought forth a thousand mutations (denominations). Our task is to sow the pure seed and water it (1 Cor. 3:6). The increase is God’s end of the stick.

The God Who Sees

Mike Willis

One can make a good study of the nature of God by looking at his names (Lord, God Almighty, Jehovah, etc.). Hagar learned to know God as “El Roi”  “The God Who Sees.” The concept of God as the God who sees lingers today in our understanding of the omniscience of God  God sees all things. Let us remember how this concept of Jehovah was revealed to Hagar.

Hagar

Hagar was the handmaid of Sarah. When Sarah finally accepted that she was barren, she decided to have children through her handmaid, as was the custom of that day. Children born to a handmaid were considered heirs unless there was a natural born son, in which case he was the heir.

Sarah approached Abram about having children through Hagar and the two of them agreed to do this. They had become impatient with God, not expecting him to fulfill his promises. Therefore, they worked to help God do what he had promised. Abram went in to Hagar and she conceived a child through him.

Neither had fully considered the ramifications of their conduct. The human emotions that people have cannot be turned off and on like a faucet. Apparently, Abram and Sarah thought that Hagar could have a child through Abram and without emotional attachment. They are like those today who think that two people can co-habit without emotional involvement. When Hagar perceived that she was pregnant, her attitudes changed. She became “odious” like the maid servant that the wise man described who became heir to her mistress (Prov. 30:23).

When Sarah was sufficiently alienated by Hagar’s attitude, she complained to Abram and he told her, “Do with her as it pleaseth thee” (Gen. 16:6). Sarah dealt harshly with Hagar and Hagar fled from her; she be-came a runaway slave.

God Appeared to Hagar

The angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar by a fountain of water in the wilderness. Hagar explained that she had fled from her mistress. The Lord instructed her to return to Sarah and promised her that she would bear a son named Ishmael who would prosper (because the Lord heard her affliction). After hearing the Lord’s promise, Hagar called the name of the God who spoke to her as “Thou God seest me” (El Roi). She named the well at which the Lord appear to her Beer-lahai-roi (“the well of him that lives and sees me,” Gen. 16:14). Harold G. Stigers wrote,

Hagar’s reaction is one of consciousness of God’s presence at her deep need, for He is near to point out responsibility and offer aid in assuming it. She memorialized the event in the characterizing of Yahweh as He who sees, i.e., who sees and succors. At the same time in offering her His help, He restores her feelings of being and affirms His impartiality to all His creatures so that, though a slave, she may hope in Him (A Commentary on Genesis 162).

After the miraculous appearance, Hagar knew that God cares for and looks after her because he is a God who sees man’s needs and responds to meet them.

God’s All Seeing Eyes Watches You

How sad that we have so emphasized God’s omniscience in knowing all of man’s sins (a truth that does not need to be minimized) that we may have neglected giving proper attention to the positive truth revealed in this passage. Consider these truths about the God who sees:

1. God knows my needs. Jesus emphasized this in his Sermon on the Mount. He said,

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, 0 ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things (Matt. 6:25-32).

Jesus knows my every need. How comforting is the knowledge that God in heaven lives and knows and cares for me.

2. God responds to meet my needs. He is the God who hears prayer (Ps. 65:2). Like he met the needs of Hagar, he will respond to my needs as well. There is nothing that I need for salvation that he has not provided. He watches over me to make sure there is a way of escape in the hour of temptation (1 Cor. 10:13). How comforting is the knowledge that God will act to meet my needs.

3. God knows our works. This is the oft repeated message to the seven churches of Asia (see Rev. 2:2, 9, 13, 19; 3:1, 8, 15). He walks amidst the lamp stands (churches) and knows what occurs among them. He promises help and encouragement to the faithful who faced sore trials and tribulations.

4. God knows our special circumstances. He wrote to the church at Pergamos, “I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth” (Rev. 2:13). These brethren faced some difficult circumstances because they lived where “Satan’s seat is.” The Lord promised them the help they would need to stay faithful.

Conclusion

Don’t lose heart. God knows your needs and cares for you. The same God who has watched over and cared for you through the years until now, will stay with you to help you through those that remain. Whatever your circumstances and problems may be, don’t forget that God sees and cares.

Guardian of Truth XL: 10 p. 2
May 16, 1996