Truth Magazine

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

By Dan King

Every teacher has experienced difficulty with class control at one time or another, possibly many times. Students like to get the teacher off on peripheral or incidental matters in order to avoid having to do some assignment or to slow progress so as to minimize work on their own part. Discipline on the part of the teacher is necessary to keep things on the right track. Otherwise, neither teaching nor learning will be accomplished, and the whole teaching-learning process will have broken down. A teacher must first decide what is vital, and then determine to remain with vital things. Both self and class control will be essential to assure success.

Like all teachers from time immemorial, Jesus met with pupils who wanted to divert attention from some immediate doctrine or principle which he considered essential, to something of less import. He could have chosen to spend much time and many words pursuing such incidental questions and subjects. But it would have meant that he was turning away from his high purpose to “chase his tail,” so to speak. Jesus refused to waste precious time and effort upon what was of so little consequence. When he was challenged by the Samaritan woman at Sychar about the Jewish insistence upon centralized worship in Jerusalem, he turned the challenge into an opportunity for instruction on what the Messianic reign would bring:

“Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither in this mountain (Gerazim), nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the Father . . . the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; the Father seeks such people to be his worshippers. God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must do so in spirit and truth” (John 4:21-24).

He refused to be led away into a debate over the legitimacy of Gerazim or Jerusalem. His kingdom would exalt neither one as primary. So, why pursue the matter at all? It was not vital, so he did not.

There was, however, an issue of more profound significance, and to this he drew attention with the words: “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know; for salvation is of the Jews” (v. 22). An essential question with a Samaritan was the issue of the place of the Messiah’s origin: which people was to be his people, the Jews or the Samaritans? This was not a subject of only peripheral interest, as the following conversation shows:

“The woman said to him, `I know that Messiah is coming (he that is called Christ); when he arrives, he will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, `I that speak to you am he’ (vv. 25-26).

Jesus was relentless in his pursuit of the main point of their conversation. He had in mind to convince her that he was the Messiah of the Law, promise and prophecy, and would not be sidetracked away from this fundamental didactic goal. It was vital, so it was worth further exploration.

We, as teachers today, need to develop in ourselves the same relentlessness in the pursuit of our main class goals. Preparing ourselves mentally by knowing where we are going and how we intend to get there, then focusing upon attaining this ultimate target by taking the essential steps in this direction one at a time. This is the way to avoid being taken off course. Unswerving mental “focus” is in-deed the key to getting where we want to go as teachers. This we learn from Christ.

Students, help the teacher and the entire class by pre-paring your own lesson in advance and being ready for questions and discussion. But, leave off asking irrelevant questions. Ask questions and offer discussion of matters under immediate consideration. Don’t force the teacher to embarrass you by telling you that your question is more appropriate for another time and another study. Ask “off the wall” questions in private and after the class. Jesus stayed with vital matters, so you stay with vital matters! This will help everyone!

Teachers, keep your class on track. Keep them on the subject. The only way you can do that is by preparing your material adequately in advance and then coming to class and “delivering it.” If you permit yourself to be drawn off the topic of the Bible study onto extraneous and unimportant matters, you have failed as a teacher. Remember, Jesus was flexible enough to answer questions and engage in discussion which was on the subject. But he was inflexible toward the person who merely wanted to send him off onto a “wild goose chase.” Don’t permit one or two of your students to do this to your class. The whole class suffers when you do. Jesus stayed with vital matters, so you stay with vital matters! Learn this important lesson from Jesus.

Guardian of Truth XL: 10 p. 14-15
May 16, 1996