MOCK WORSHIP
"And the soldiers led Jesus away within the court, which is the Praetorium; and they call together the whole band. And they clothe him with purple, and platting a crown of thorns, they put it on him; and they began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote his head with a reed, and spat upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him" (Mark 15:16-20).
These Roman soldiers, by their actions, showed they had a low estimation of our Lord Jesus Christ. They did not believe the claims He made for Himself, if they had they could not have participated in this evil sport.
It is called "worship." But it was mock worship. Pretended worship. They were insincere. Making fun. Having fun at His expense.
Today there are pretended worshippers all around us, engaging in mock worship as damning and blasphemous as then. Our seminaries and increasingly our churches are being filled with those who have a very low estimation of Christ. Not for fun now, they are dead serious.
They ridicule His claim to deity, His pre-existence, virgin birth, atoning death, bodily resurrection; they repudiate His miracles, and scandalize His person. They disbelieve more than they believe. Yet they bow in worship each Sunday morning and piously pray and praise. MOCK WORSHIP!!!
Who do they worship? If it is God the Father, then they should know that it was He who sent His Son into the world to be what He claimed to be, and it was the Father who testified on several occasions concerning Him: "This is my beloved Son, hear ye him."
If it is the Son they worship, their worship is nothing more than idolatry, if He is, as they say, something less than God-incarnate.
Or do they worship a god of their own imagination -- a creature of their own mind? Indeed, that is the god many worship today. To pretend they worship the one and only true and living God of heaven and earth, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is purely "mock worship." "They that worship Him, must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." "The Father seeketh such to worship Him."
Pretended worshippers shall one day find to their great consternation that their worship was misdirected and wholly unacceptable to God. They shall discover that their low opinion of God's Christ was their undoing. All other creatures of God's universe (except the unbelieving sinner on earth) have the highest opinion of Christ Jesus and are engaged, and shall be throughout eternity, in adoration and worship of Him. But the unbelieving "shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."
-- a.e.g.
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"Come unto me . . . and I will give you rest . . . rest unto your souls." -- Jesus
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Third in a Series
HIS VIRGIN BIRTH
If Jesus was born of a virgin, then we should have some testimony from His own lips concerning it. And we do. The eighth chapter of John presents the fullest and most striking testimony.
This chapter is a veritable battle field in which the attacks upon our Lord by His enemies reach a climax of bitterness not paralleled anywhere else in the New Testament record.
In verses 14 and 23 the central issue in the controversy is defined. Jesus declared, "I know whence I came" -- "but ye know not whence I come" (14). "Whence" has to do with origin or source or cause. Thus Jesus referred to His origin of which His attackers were wholly ignorant.
Again He affirmed, "I am from above" (23). This refers to origin. Jesus spoke not merely of the origin of His soul, but His whole person. His birth was not an ordinary one caused by the physical union of a man and woman. He was born of a virgin who had never "known" a man. His birth was the result of "the power of the Most High" overshadowing the virgin Mary. This is what Jesus was telling His attackers on this occasion.
There are three distinct attacks upon our Lord, in verses 19 and 41 and 48, each one carrying the same insinuation, and moving to an open charge.
"They said therefore unto him, Where is thy father? (19). They were insinuating He had an earthly father, thus of earthly origin. Jesus answered, "Ye know neither me, nor my Father." They knew Joseph, so Jesus was putting Joseph out of the picture as far as His origin was concerned, and was saying that truly His origin was of the heavenly Father, a heavenly origin.
Next they said, "We were not born of fornication" (41). They grow bolder in their accusation. By saying they were not born of fornication, they imply that He was. They knew that one born of fornication could never claim God as his Father. Their law affirmed: "A bastard (illegitimate child) shall not enter into the assembly of Jehovah; even to the tenth generation . . . " (Deuteronomy 23:2).
Jesus answered them in no uncertain terms. Though they claimed to "have one Father, even God," Jesus says they are in reality the children of the devil. And speaketh a lie." His lie was none other than the very thing under discussion, that Jesus had not a heavenly origin.
On the other hand, Jesus declared of Himself, "I say the truth." He was telling the truth about His origin. As an evidence of His heavenly origin He challenges them to find one sin in His life, which of course they could not do.
"The Jews answered and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan?" (48). This is the third attack.
Mary was a Jewess, Joseph was a Jew. This the attackers knew. Only one possible alternative remained and it was a brutal one. His enemies were charging that His father was an unknown Samaritan. This brutal alternative is the same today if the Virgin Birth is not true. According to Joseph, he was not the father of the child.
"Jesus answered . . . ye dishonor me" (49). So do all who disbelieve our Lord's Virgin Birth.
One final question. Can a man be Christian and reject the Virgin Birth of Christ? Our Lord gives the answer:
"Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that he shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" (23,24). But you need not die thus. Pray God to lead you to repentance and to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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SINGING IN THE DARKNESS
"In the night His song shall be with me" -- Psalm 42:8.
If ever the followers of the Lord ought to wear the garment of praise, it is today. The night is dark, events are depressing, fear and sorrow stalk the earth, and faith is being tested. Let us ever remember that it was in the darkest night of our Lord's life that He sang with His disciples the song of the Lord before going on to the Garden and the Cross.
Don't let the song go out of your life
When the shadows cover the sun,
The sooner they'll lift and reveal the rift
If you let the melody run.
Don't let the song go out of your life
Let it ring in your soul each day
And when you go hence, it will follow you thence
To rejoice in the Lord alway.
As we sing this song from a grateful heart we shall find strength and joy in our own soul, and impart courage to some other needy pilgrim of the night. Our song is needed in the day, but He has asked us to sing in the night.
-- Dr. G. R. Paterson.
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FIVE GREAT WONDERS
By H. A. Woolley
SEE HEAR TASTE TOUCH SMELL
Earth and sky are full of the wonderful works of God; and lovers of Nature have ever before them an endless panorama of delightsome beauty. For "the works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein" (Psalm 111:2).
Think, for instance, of the sun and its wonders; its healing and health-giving rays; its radiant rising seen from some lone Alpine height at break of day; its gorgeous setting in multi-colored glory witnessed upon the wide heaving ocean. Think; thank; and adore!
Upon such sights as these, however, we do not propose to dwell, great and marvelous though they are, our present purpose being to consider briefly that with which we are even more intimately connected; that, indeed, which is part and parcel of ourselves. We refer to what are commonly known as the five senses of the human body, each of which is a veritable marvel in itself.
Created by God, "in our image, after our likeness," man was endowed with five precious pieces of delicate mechanism. He was fashioned and formed in such a way that he could see, hear, taste, feel and smell. These gifts, like many others, we take as matters of course, hardly ever giving them a thought -- until deprived of the use of any one of them!
Leaving the intricate method of working, the "How" and the "Why" to other pens, attention is chiefly directed to the spiritual side of these things; and more particularly to the glorious fact that the Lord Jesus Christ in becoming Man partook of and enjoyed as Man, these same five senses in absolute perfection. While our bodies are sin-marred, we being born of a fallen race, His was sinless, spotless, undefiled. For He did no sin; He knew no sin; and in Him was no sin.
How the Lord Jesus Christ used these powers, if we may put it thus, will be more fully discovered as we meditate a little in turn upon each of the five great wonders.
WHAT THE LORD SAW
We will take sight first. How manifold are the blessings of sight! How wonderful it is that we can see one another and the things around us! More wonderful still if in addition spiritual vision is ours; if through grace our sin-blinded eyes have been opened so that "we see Jesus," crucified, crowned and coming!
What did the Lord see when upon earth? We might have asked, What did He not see? For everything was open to that gaze. Those eyes saw as no other eyes have ever seen. He observed, perceived, discerned, looked right into the hearts of His hearers, and read all that was there! (Mark 2:8). When He saw the faith of the four bearers, He said to the sick of the palsy, "Son thy sins be forgiven thee." Obvious to all was the man's physical affliction, but only the Lord saw the deeper need of the soul.
In Mark 6:34 we read that Jesus "saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them." Why? Because they were weary and hungry? Certainly! But He also saw, and had compassion for their deep spiritual needs. And "He began to teach them many things." Never man saw what He saw.
Ponder for a moment that last journey. Notice the stages:
(1) At the appointed time He sets His face to go (Luke 9:51);
(2) Luke 13:22 shows Him "journeying towards Jerusalem";
(3) Luke17:11 says, "as He went to Jerusalem"; while
(4) in Luke 19 "He went before, ascending up to Jerusalem"; and finally
(5) He draws near, and "He beheld the city, and wept over it" (Luke 19:41).
Oh, how much He saw!
HEAR HIM
Like the eye, the ear is of wonderful construction. For God's work is perfect in all directions. Perfect in Creation, Redemption and Providence. With wondrous skill the Lord works, and through His work He makes us glad (Psalm 92:4). Now as to the faculty of hearing. Sounds and voices of many kinds we all hear, but best of all it is to "Hear Him!" To sit at the feet of the Son of God to listen and to learn of Him. Do we know anything of that? One instance of Jesus hearing. "Jesus heard that they had cast him (the formerly blind beggar out; and when He had found him, He said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" (John 9:35). What followed we know. It is possible to have ears and yet not hear. That is, fail to grasp the meaning of what is said. Hence the oft-repeated injunctions of Christ, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." To which in one place is added, "Take heed what ye hear."
TASTE AND SEE
Tasting next. Sufferers from heavy head-colds sometimes lose all sense of taste and smell for days together. The writer having had this experience more than once can speak feelingly, well knowing what it is to sit down to meal after meal without being able to taste (or smell) one single particle of food! One simply has to imagine the various flavors! Well, we all know what tasting means. The best tasting of all is to "taste and see that the Lord is good." Most of our readers have done that, let us hope, and gratefully remember not only that on the Cross He "tasted" death for every man, but having "received Him" can add: "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." All such have "tasted" that the Lord is gracious.
CHRIST'S TENDER TOUCH
The sense of touch. What could we do without it? Think of some of the things the Lord touched, and what resulted. He touched the leper; the bier of the widow's only son; "their eyes"; the eyes of the blind men; "his tongue"; "his ear." Look up the references, and reflect quietly upon that perfect touch, that tender, loving touch. In other cases He Himself was touched by needy hands, the inspired record being that "as many as touched Him were made whole"; Luke 8 furnishing a very well-known instance. And remember, His touch hath still its ancient power!
One further remark before passing on. The child of God is often in grave danger of being governed by things seen, so numerous and attractive. Sight then becomes the rule of life rather than faith. The physical senses dominate the situation, and the spiritual life suffers in consequence. It is therefore needful to be reminded that there are some things which it is better neither to touch, taste nor handle.
A SWEET SAVOUR OF CHRIST
Lastly, there is the sense of smell. We read that after the Flood when Noah, building an altar, had offered burnt offerings, "the Lord smelled a sweet savour," or as the margin has it, "a savour of rest." The whole passage is most suggestive. But we must return to the New Testament, and come again into Palestine, the land wherein the Man Christ Jesus walked, and talked, and touched the needy all around.
You remember what Mary did at that Bethany supper? How she anointed the feet of Jesus with very costly ointment, "and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment" (John 12:3). Read the entrancing story again, and get the scene into your mind's eye. That fragrant perfume entered the nostrils of all present, penetrating into every corner of the house. They all smelled it. But the Lord of glory in their midst smelled that sweet savour as did no other. To them it was merely a pleasant perfume. To Him it was the sacrifice of love, the token of a loving heart's intense devotion to Himself. Now link this to Ephesians 5:2, a word surely for us all, "Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour." Does the fragrance of Christ cling to us? It will if we are much in His company. Are our garments scented with the savour of the Sanctuary? Are we in actual fact unto God a sweet savour of Christ? We should be; and we may be. How? By yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit within.
These are some of the thoughts arising out of a recent contemplation of our five faculties. We have sought to stress the spiritual aspect, believing that this opens up a wide field of fascinating and profitable study into which we hope readers will be encouraged to thrust more deeply. Praise and profit are bound to result; praise to the Lord for His wonderful works to the children of men; and profit both to ourselves and to others.
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SPIRITUAL INFLUENZA
A. W. P. S.
A cold in the soul means a spiritual chill,
And is the precursor of many an ill;
Constricted and short is the breathing of prayer,
For lungs earth-congested inhale not much air.
The appetite soon gets perverted -- depraved --
Refusing the food which in health it had craved;
Oft dimness of vision and deafness ensue,
With stiffness of neck and head-giddiness too.
The hands, as if paralyzed, hang by the side,
The faltering footsteps incline to backslide --
Most feeble the knees scarcely able to stand,
Or run in His way at the Master's command,
In sympathy with such discordance within,
The memory fails, 'tis forgotten that sin
Was cleansed from the soul at a terrible cost,
True sense of its sinfulness thus being lost.
The Hope which at all times the Christian should cheer;
But faintly is seen; for the eye, once so clear,
No longer can scan the horizon afar --
Perceives not the beams of the bright Morning Star.
These symptoms are common, but all are aware
Still more might be named, such as *greyness of hair --
Great swellings and tumors of pride and conceit,
Disease of the heart well concealed by deceit.
Bone troubles appear, caused by envy and strife --
Twin poisons, corrupting the fountains of life;
Inflamed is the tongue, almost seeming on fire,
While through the whole system the fever runs higher.
Exhaustion, prostration of strength, and decay,
Are felt in the soul when disease holdeth sway;
It may be faith falters, so far as to say,
"I'll fall by the enemy's onslaughts some day."
When conscious of weakness, ah, then is the hour
To consult that Physician whose wonderful power
Heals all who to Him in their sickness apply!
Without Him the patient must hopelessly die.
He knows how to bind up the broken in heart,
Fresh life into broken reeds He can impart;
His eye-salve the clearness of vision renews,
One touch of His hand the hot fever subdues.
**Jehovah Ropheca, as such He is mine,
Restoring my soul by His skill all divine;
I am healed by His stripes, yet He healeth each day,
While leading me on through the wilderness way.
Made perfect at last, in His likeness complete,
Beholding the marks in His hands and His feet;
More fully we'll know what it cost Him to be
Jehovah Ropheca to you and to me.
* Hosea 7:9
** The Lord thy Healer
(The Hull Publishing Co., Winnipeg, Canada, 1893)
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"THERE WAS A MAN NAMED ZACCHAEUS"
Luke 19:1-10
Zacchaeus was a man just like us. He was a sinner and as a result lost -- lost to God and all that is good. But unlike many sinners Zacchaeus responded properly to the One who came to seek and to save that which was lost.
Jesus passed his way one day. He was curious to see Jesus as He passed, so he climbed a tree to get a better look. Jesus saw him and said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house." Zacchaeus "made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully." "And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house."
Jesus gives a similar invitation to each of us. He would have us come down out of our "tree-house" of religious profession and pretense, come down from our exalted opinion of ourselves, come down in humility to confront Himself and the proposition that He is our only hope of salvation.
Zacchaeus reacted properly. We too should come at His invitation and receive Him immediately and joyfully. When we do, He gives us the assurance that "this day is salvation come to this house." Zacchaeus was a natural-born son of Abraham. Abraham was known as a man of faith. We ourselves become spiritual sons of Abraham when by faith we receive Jesus Christ as our Saviour. "So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham."
Jesus saved Zacchaeus the respectable but lost sinner. Jesus saves whosoever will come to Him. He will save you. Will you not receive Him now, joyfully? He will come into your heart to dwell. He will dwell with you until the end of the age, after which you will go to dwell with Him forever. I trust your curiosity about Jesus will turn into genuine, heartfelt faith in Jesus. God help you.
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THE BEST ROUTE
By Richard W. DeHaan
"Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator" -- I Peter 4:19
When we board a plane, we place ourselves in the hands of the captain and his crew, trusting them for a safe and comfortable flight. The pilot is briefed ahead of time on just what might be expected in the way of weather. In addition, our jets are equipped with their own radar to scan the skies ahead; and if air turbulence is suspected, the route is altered to avoid it. In this confidence we, as passengers, relax even though we don't know what lies ahead.
Recently, after a very smooth flight, I felt the plane bounce a little. Looking ahead I saw some clouds looming up at the same altitude at which we were traveling, well over 30,000 feet. Some billowed up even higher, topped by lacy caps of ice crystals. Noting that we were flying directly into this formation, I wondered why the pilot did not choose to go around it. I soon discovered the reason. The slight turbulence was short-lived, and much more easily endured than if we had taken the long way around simply to ensure a perfectly smooth flight. In addition to being time consuming, it might also have been even more bumpy. The pilot knew what he was doing!
Thus it is with the Christian. We don't know all that the future holds for us. We may guess, surmise, worry, predict (and all too often wrongly); but we should relax in the confidence that the Lord will direct our passage perfectly through the storms of life. We should commit our way to Him trusting Him to give us a "safe" ride -- to guide us through any "turbulence" if that be for our good. With Job let us declare: "He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Joh 23:10). In this confidence, we can have peace in any kind of "weather."
The clouds hang heavy 'round my way
I cannot see;
But through the darkness I believe
God leadeth me!
-- Anon.
(In "Our Daily Bread," copyright 1967 by Radio Bible Class, Grand Rapids, MI. Used by special permission.)
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