________________<BrethrenVoice>________________ [which seeks to be guided solely by the NT Biblical pattern, facilitates free flow of Christian info. To God be the glory!] [eMail Moderator: brethrenvoice-owner@...] [<GLEANINGS-FOR-THE-DAY> Archives/Read online: http://associate.com/digests/brethrenvoice/ezmlm.cgi] <GLEANINGS-FOR-THE-DAY> <28 September 2002> Contents: ----------- (1) <Devotional> "Surround sound salvation" - Ravi Zacharias (2) <Devotional> "Joseph, beloved of the father" (Pt-7) - C.E.Wigg (3) <Prophetical> "The Redeemer's Return" (Pt-39)- A.W.Pink (4) <Devotional> "Unwarranted disappointment..." - M.J. Stanford (1) <DEVOTIONAL> <SLICE-OF-INFINITY> SURROUND SOUND SALVATION Ravi Zacharias It is not by accident that some of our country's brightest minds work in the advertisement sector. Though commercial breaks are often tedious to endure, some are very clever. Perhaps you've noticed a recent commercial that begins with a highly capable-looking man walking onto a subway. Dressed in a sharp suit and wearing refined glasses, he unfolds a newspaper-yet something is awry. Soon you notice a small monkey on this man's back, fiddling with the man's eye wear. Then another primate paws at his paper. Finally, the camera cuts to a third monkey removing the man's billfold, emptying its contents. With the monkeys on his back, the man arrives at his dimly lit den and seats himself on a plush couch facing a surround-sound home theatre system. An intense intergalactic dogfight appears on the screen. (The point of this commercial is becoming increasingly clear.) The booming sound, the high definition picture, the theatre experience literally scare the monkeys off this man's back. The not so subtle point is that you can entertain your worries away. This ingenious ad is selling more than audio-visual technology; it is selling therapy through gadgetry. The underlying rationale is that through advanced techniques of mind absorption, one has a mechanism for dealing with stress. But think about its message. I imagine that for most of us, commercials like these escape our attention without critical thought-and understandably so, as we are not usually honing our attention skills during these sales pitches. This commercial illustrates the basic underlying philosophy of many advertising campaigns: the consumption of products will dissolve your anxieties. Would that life were so simple. We all seek escape, but we cannot run from reality. Life itself brings necessary burdens. Jesus tells us something fascinating. While He lifts burdens, He does not run from their existence. He only teaches us how to put them in perspective in the light of His truth. In fact He gives fresh burdens that we might carry those which are worthy of being carried. Sound and music may drown those burdens which claw at us. But only Christ can put a song within that helps us know why some burdens are worthy and what we can comfortably cast onto Him. You see, the problem is not the monkey on the back. Rather, it is a parasite within that is called self which gnaws away at peace. For that only the Great Musician is the cure. --- Copyright (p)(c) 2001 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. A Slice of Infinity is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. _______________________________________________________________________ (2) <DEVOTIONAL> JOSEPH, BELOVED OF THE FATHER (PART-7) Charles E. Wigg .... Highly Exalted: We now see Joseph in entirely different circumstances, but though his circumstances had changed his character did not. How he reminds us of our Lord Jesus, of whom it is said, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever". (Heb. 13:8.) Joseph first sought to bring honour and glory to the one who had exalted him, then blessing and salvation for the people over whom he ruled. It causes us to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matt. 28:18.) Given a wife: Joseph was given a wife during the years of plenty. She came from amongst the Egyptians. Our Lord Jesus has also been given a wife, and she, (the Church), has been largely taken from amongst the Gentiles. Peter told how that at first "God did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name", (Acts, 15:14.) The seven years of plenty: The seven years of plenty may represent the present time, known to many as the Dispensation of the Grace of God. It is true that there has been an abundant harvest for God of precious souls, during the past 2,000 years. Also there has been an abundance of spiritual food for His people. There has never been a period in the history of the world, when there has been such an abundant outpouring of God's rich Grace. But we are nearing its end, the years of trouble are soon to follow. The seven years of famine: The seven years of famine surely refer to the years of the "Great Tribulation", the "Day of Jacob's trouble". As the famine progressed, so the time arrived for the fulfilment of the promise made to Joseph in the second part of his dream. He had surely been cut off, had suffered rejection, violence & injustice. But he, (his sheaf), had risen up above it all, and he "remained standing". His brethren are now reduced to the point of approaching hunger. They go down to Egypt, and humbly bow before the one whom they had despised and rejected. They believed, (or hoped), that Joseph was dead, but he recognised them, and as they bowed before him, he remembered his dream. What a testimony this was both to the faithfulness of God, and the absolute reliability of His Word! At length they are made aware of the fact that the one whom they claimed was dead, whom they had rejected and sold into slavery, was now the Lord of the land. This at first filled them with terror, but Joseph manifested the spirit that was afterwards seen in Christ, by freely and fully forgiving them. He allowed no distance to remain between himself and them. [To be concluded] --- [Reproduced with permission] _______________________________________________________________________ (3) <PROPHETICAL> "THE REDEEMER'S RETURN" (PART-39) THE TIME OF THE REDEEMER'S RETURN Arthur W. Pink .... 2. The Teaching of Matthew 13 proves that no era of Millennial blessing precedes Christ's Second Advent (2/2). The mustard-seed developed into a great tree--an abnormal thing in itself, nay, a monstrosity - so the popularization of Christianity in the days of Constantine produced an unnatural and ungainly system which was foreign to its spirit and nature. Observe that the "fowls of the air" came and lodged in the branches of the great tree. In the first parable of the series the Lord Himself tells us that the birds of the air represent the emissaries of Satan. The great tree then, stands for a nominal and national Christianity, a monstrous, world-system, that which in our day is the aggregate of the so-called "Christian nations." In a word, the great tree symbolizes Christendom which in Rev. 18 is said to be the "hold of every foul spirit and a cage for every hateful bird." Further confirmation of our assertion above,that the great tree which issued from the mustard-seed represents the abnormal growth of a corrupted Christianity is furnished in Daniel 4 where we have recorded a dream which came to the first head of the Gentile powers. In this dream Nebuchadnezzar also saw a "great tree," and in the fate which it met with we learn the end which is appointed to the tree of our parable. To quote--"I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and a holy one came down from heaven; He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches" (Dan. 4:10-14). To sum up our comments upon this parable. Instead of lending favour to the position of post-millennialism, its teaching--viewed in the light of Daniel 4--absolutely shatters the foundation of that system. Instead of teaching that the professing Church shall conquer the world, it shows that the world has conquered the professing Church. The mustard-seed symbolizes the outward character of the Christian profession at the beginning of this dispensation, when its devotees were few in number, poor in this world's goods, and despised by the great ones of the earth. In the third century A. D., the professing Church was like unto a humble little seed, unpretentious in appearance and insignificant in its dimensions. But in the fourth century there was a dramatic change. Constantine became a nominal Christian and adopted Christianity as the State religion. Then it was that the "tree" grew and became strong in the earth, putting out its branches in all directions. But then it was, also, that the fowls of Satan found shelter within its imposing boughs. However, great as the tree has become, its end is sure. Just as we learnt in the previous parable that the tares shall yet be consigned to the fire, so shall this great "tree" yet be cut down and brought to nought. We turn now to the fourth parable of Matt. 13--the parable of the Leaven, the leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. This parable is one of the foundation passages of post-millennialists. In it they see clear proof that the Reign of Righteousness, the Golden Age, is to be brought about by the efforts of the Church. The woman, we are told, symbolizes the Church, the three measures of meal the human race, and the leaven the Gospel, which, working silently but surely shall yet permeate the whole of humanity and influence all men Godward and heavenward. But the assumption that the leaven here signifies the influence and power of the Gospel will not stand the test of the Scriptures, for in the Word of God "leaven" is uniformly employed as a figure of that which is evil. The Israelites in Egypt were commanded to put away all leaven from their houses on the night of the Passover, and to eat the lamb with un-leavened bread. Leaven was rigidly excluded from every one of the Levitical offerings which typified Christ. When our Lord was here upon earth He bade His disciples "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (Matt. 16:11). Writing to the Corinthians the apostle exhorted them to "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. 5:7, 8). Thus we see that, in harmony with its nature, leaven, is uniformly used as a figure of evil. How strange then that sober expositions should ever have regarded sour dough--a form of incipient putrefaction--as a symbol of the unadulterated Word of God working in the hearts of men! What then is the meaning of the parable of the Leaven? We answer that just as the former one brings before us the external development of a corrupted Christianity, so this one shows us the internal working of corruption within the Christian profession. The third parable brings us, historically, to the time of Constantine; the fourth carries us forward to the time of the rise and growth of the Roman Catholic Church. The "woman" in our parable figures the "mother of harlots and abominations of the earth" (Rev. 17:5)--"that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess' (Rev. 2:20). Her act in "hiding" the leaven comports well with the secrecy and stealth which has ever characterized the methods of the Roman hierarchy. The action of the woman is further evidence that the post-millennial interpretation of this parable is erroneous, for there is nothing secret about the proclamation and spread of the Gospel. Said our Lord to His disciples, "What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops" (Matt. 10:27); and wrote the apostle, "But having renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, not handling the Word of God deceitfully"(2 Cor. 4:2). But both "craftiness" and "deceit" did mark this woman's action. She stealthily introduced into the meal a corrupting element, and though the resulting bread might be rendered more palatable, nevertheless it had been polluted. The three measures of meal stand for the whole of Christendom, and as Dr. Haldeman has pointed out, it is very remarkable that there are just three great divisions in Christendom, namely, the Roman Catholic, the Greek, and the Protestant Churches. And how true it is that these three divisions of the meal have each and all been thoroughly corrupted by the leaven introduced by the "woman"! Everywhere there are relics of Romanism, even in all the so-called Protestant churches. To say that this parable teaches that the Gospel is to win the whole world to Christ is to put light for darkness and is to make error equal truth. If the leaven represents the Gospel, the woman the church, and the meal the entire human race,then we have to confess that our Lord erred in His judgment and entirely over-estimated the power of the Gospel to find a response in the hearts of men, for after eighteen centuries of Gospel preaching we cannot point to a single country where all its subjects make even a profession of Christianity; nay, the world over, we cannot find a single city, town, or hamlet where everyone of its inhabitants is a believer in the Lord Jesus. No; this parable shows us the secret working of a putrefying element which spreads nought but corruption,--Can then the Millennium be introduced by the universal diffusion of a corrupted Christianity! In these four parables we discover the methods used by Satan to hinder the work of true Christianity. At the beginning he sought to oppose by catching away the Seed, which method was pursued throughout the first century when the Devil endeavored to exterminate and annihilate the Word of God by means of the sword and the bonfire. In the second parable we see him changing his tactics aiming to destroy Christianity by mingling his own children among the people of God. In the third we see how by a master-stroke of the Enemy the Christian profession was Paganized and as the result the world was won over by dazzling the eyes of men with a gorgeous ritual, with imposing architecture, and with the sanction and approval of the Roman Emperors themselves. In the fourth we discover how he succeeded in corrupting the doctrines and practices of Christianity by introducing into its midst a foreign and putrefying element which has resulted in the leavening of the entire mass. We shall not tarry long with the last three parables of this series. There is nothing at all in them, any more than in those already considered, which confirms and establishes the post-millennial teaching. A treasure buried in the field (which is "the world") can scarcely figure the universal success of the Gospel. A "pearl"--which is an object taken out of the "sea" (symbol of the nations) is no picture of a world won to Christ. While the Drag-net--the last of the series--enclosing as it does "every kind" of fish, the "bad" as well as the good, surely refutes the assertion that at the close of time Christ will return to find all men reconciled to Himself. [To be concluded] _______________________________________________________________________ (4) <DEVOTIONAL> UNWARRANTED DISAPPOINTMENT "OH, WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM!" ROM 7:24 M.J. Stanford The result of, and penalty for, reliance upon the flesh, is Romans Seven. The result of, and reward for, dependence upon the Holy Spirit, is Romans Eight. "Self-disappointment is a very different thing from self-judgment. Indeed, if there were true self-judgment there would never have to be self-disappointment. If in honesty and sobriety of heart I have judged 'that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing,' I shall certainly not expect anything from myself, and it has been well said that where there is no expectation there can be no disappointment. "But I feel sure that many young believers, and I dare say some old ones too, are very familiar with the wretched and depressing experience of self-disappointment. They have made many fresh starts; they have often been stirred up, and have made up their minds to be more for Christ; they have thought, 'I shall do better now; I am more earnest about it than I was before'; but it has all ended in disappointment. "They have no idea that they are trying to improve themselves; they would repudiate such a thought; they suppose that they know better than to look for good in themselves. And yet their disappointment is the plain proof that, in spite of all their knowledge of Scripture, they have expected to make themselves different, for they are disappointed because they have not succeeded in doing so." -C.A.C. "The soul that turns back upon itself to learn God's judgment about it, and what His dealings with it are likely to be, is not leaning upon what the Father is-is not standing in grace. Neither our joy nor our peace is dependent on what we are to Him, but on what He is to us-and this is grace." -J.N.D. "My soul wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him" (Psalm 62:5). _____________________<BrethrenVoice>_____________________ Subscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-subscribe@...> Unsubscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-unsubscribe@...> FAQs/Faith Statement, eMail: <brethrenvoice-faq@...> <BrethrenVoice> Home: http://associate.com/digests/brethrenvoice/ <eFellowship> Home: http://groups.msn.com/BrethrenChristiansForum/ "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith." 2 Cor 13:5 "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Jn 8:32 _______________________________________________________