THE SEVEN ANGELS WITH THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES
(continued)
“And
they sing the song of Moses the servant
of God, and the song of the Lamb…” (Rev. 15:3).
When
Israel, standing on the
banks of the Red Sea, looked back and saw
their old masters dead upon the shore, their hearts thrilled with joy and the
sands of the desert vibrated and re-vibrated as Moses led in the song of victory
and deliverance. The allusion here is to the Israelites of old
who, after having passed through the Red Sea dry shod, thus securing perfect
and blessed deliverance from the bestial system of Egypt, stood upon the shore
singing the song of Moses, Miriam and the women playing their timbrels, while
their enemies with their chariots and their chosen captains perished in the
waters (Exodus 15).
Here
is another sea — a sea of glass and fire.
Here is another company, standing on another shore,
that has won the victory over its enemies. Who might this company be? What might be the sea upon whose shore they
sing the song of triumph and praise to their Lord and Deliverer? Methinks
I have stood upon that very shore. As
surely as the raging sea bespeaks multitudes of surging, clamoring, restless,
sinning humanity, so does the exquisite sea of glass represent an assembled
throng of transformed saints in whose hearts the spirit of the Lamb rules. This great sea
of the sons of God is calm, serene, tranquil, and quiet — the bestial nature
has been dealt with and these abide in the peace, joy, righteousness, and power
of the kingdom of
God. Ah, yes, I have stood upon that shore, yea,
and do stand with an innumerable company of men and women whose faces are set
and whose hearts are fixed to do only and completely the will of the
Father. These are they who live and walk
in the Spirit, the firstborn-destined who are being delivered from the power of
the beast. The glassy sea is here mingled with fire — the fiery trials and
processings by which the Father purifies His sons, sharpening their vision, whetting
the appetite for things eternal and heavenly, slackening the desire for all
that is earthly and worldly.
How the courts of heaven ring for joy as this
illustrious company sings the song of Moses the servant of God! But there is a new note and a new stanza in
that song. Not only is it the song of
Moses but it is also the song of the Lamb!
Truly this is one of the most fascinating songs mentioned in all the
Word of God! The song of Moses and the
Lamb — whatever can it mean? In
transfixed wonder John caught the echo of this mighty anthem as it burst from
the lips of those who have conquered the power of the beast — the bestial
nature of man, and the bestial system of the world. It is the song of the great leader of Israel just after he and his followers had
passed in safety through the Red Sea. It is the song of Moses because it voices the
praise of those who, like Israel
of old at the Red Sea, have been miraculously
delivered from an awful tyranny and bondage.
Now
what is the song of the Lamb? The
teachers and preachers in the church systems suppose it means that the
blood-washed throng, the believers out of all the ages, around the throne of
God in heaven, whose toils are over and done with forevermore, are those singing,
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!” And
among this throng they include all who are saved by free grace alone, including
all the baby Christians and all the carnal Christians in all the carnal church
systems of man, and including those who achieved an eleventh-hour death-bed
repentance, and now stand with all the saints of all the ages before the throne
of God in heaven singing, “Worthy is the Lamb!”
If this is your conception, my friend, you frustrate the meaning, for
that is not the thought conveyed by the Holy Spirit in this beautiful
passage. The seer of Patmos, who was in
the spirit on the Lord’s day saw, not a company saved by free grace, but a
company of full overcomers who had gotten the victory over the beast, and over
his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name. These overcomers stand upon the sea
of glass mingled with fire,
having been purged and purified in the consuming fire of God, now
having the harps of God, and it is they who sing the song of Moses and the
Lamb!
The
Lamb is first and foremost our Lord Jesus Christ, together with the body of the Lamb, that glorious company
which has followed Him all the way to mount
Zion by way of mount Calvary. The song of the Lamb is not the song of
sinners saved by grace, as glorious as that is; it is the song of joy out of
sorrow, of peace in the midst of storm, of perfection out of suffering, of
light out of darkness, of righteousness triumphing over sin, of victory
snatched from the jaws of defeat, of life conquering death. It is the song of the OVERCOMER! The “Lamb” bespeaks the humiliation and
suffering that leads to life and exaltation.
Ah, there is no victory without a battle, no overcomer without the
powers of death and hell. My soul,
consider! what was
that which to the seer of Patmos made the
harmony complete? It was the vision of a
vast multitude taking up the song — the experience — of the Lamb of
sacrifice. There was a time when, to
that multitude, the spectacle of sacrifice would have brought discord to the
heart; but in the completed harmony it brings joy. The sweetest music is the song that is born
of experience! Until we thoroughly
understand how suffering is the preparation for reigning, we shall never be
enthralled by the song of the Lamb. Do
you not know, precious elect of the Lord, that this was from the outset of your
call to sonship the goal of your being — to be made perfect through
suffering? It was for this that
your first innocence was clouded. It was
for this that your first joy was dimmed.
It was for this that you were lowered from the garden of God
to the field of thorns and thistles. It
was for this that your first hope was shaken — that you might reach mount Zion
by the steps of mount
Calvary. The minor chords of testing and trial played
together with the chords of faith and patience to harmonize into the symphony
of perfection and glory. The wilderness
of the Son of man is better than the garden
of Adam. The morning stars sang together over your
untried nature; but there awaits a yet grander music — when the harps of God
shall proclaim that you have conquered all and stand triumphant in His image!
It
is also the song of the Lamb because it speaks of the triumph of God’s elect
which leads them into the glorious liberty, image, and power of God’s
Christ. It is sung by those who have GOTTEN THE
VICTORY OVER THE BEAST — that is, those who through grace and by the inworkings
of HIS LIFE were delivered from the delusions of the bestial spirit and system
of this world to follow the Lamb to mount
Zion. It is a song of experience, and only those
who have overcome all things and stand in the glory of God within the precincts
of the throne zone are able to join in that paean of praise!
People
entertain all sorts of ideas about the song of Moses and the Lamb. Many view these as two different songs, the
first about God’s saving power and deliverance,
the second about God’s grace and mercy.
While those elements are certainly included, it does not by any means
imply that this company is singing two songs, one of Moses and another of the
Lamb, but that the same song is at the same time the song of Moses and the song
of the Lamb. Truly, the song of Moses
is the song of the Lamb! Even as Moses
taught his people to sing his song, so the Lamb teaches His people to sing this
song. And essentially they are alike, singing the same
theme, for the song of Moses is caught up into the greater glory of the song of
the Lamb. Thus, the song of Moses and
the Lamb is really one song sung only by the overcomers!
How
can we know this? Because John gives
us the song! Consider what he
says. “And they sing the song of Moses
the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying…” And then the song begins! We don’t know the melody of the song, but
that is of no importance, for the great truth the Holy Spirit would impress
upon us is that throughout the scriptures a “song” denotes a “message.” In fact, a song represents both praise and a message. It is praise that
bears a message, or beyond that, praise which is birthed out of revelation and
experience with God. You can tell the spiritual
level of a person by the songs he sings!
A person’s “song” will always express his depth of understanding and
relationship with God. When we receive
new revelation from the Lord, experientially inworked into our lives, a new
song is created. I look back over old
sermons, and sometimes I have to say to myself, “I could not preach that
again.” Thank God, He has been teaching
me through the years of my walk in Him, leading into a fuller knowledge of
truth and a deeper walk in the Spirit.
Oh, yes! There is continuously a new
song — a new revelation, a new message, a fresh word, a higher
experience in God for this day, and for all the days to come! Those who sing the new song have outgrown the
old ones. They no longer express our
experience or satisfy our needs.
God
is even now preparing a people, a royal
priesthood, sons of the most High; and while the church world continues on with
its time-honored traditions and childish delusions,
singing about flying away to cabins in the corner of gloryland, or to mansions
over the hill-top, a people is arising in the earth with a new and wonderful vision
— to become kings and priests unto God — their hearts vibrating with the
melodious strains of a new song, the
song of a people with a purpose, a company gathered out of the generations,
grown up into the fullness of Christ, conquering every enemy within and without,
which in due time shall be led forth to reveal to creation the manifest expression of His image, character, and
nature, the revelation of His glory, power, and dominion, with an outflow of
life, light, and love sent to change the course of history, transform the
nations, and restore all men and all things back into God. This is the company standing upon the sea of
glass mingled with fire, singing the song
of Moses and the Lamb. And what a
song it is!
Ah,
those who receive this call, those
who hold this vision, those who
cherish this hope, those
who participate in this dealing and
share in this experience, indeed sing
the song of Moses and the Lamb! This
song can be sung by none but those apprehended, those who have conquered to
stand upon the sea of glass and fire.
This is the ineffable, preeminent Song; ineffable because it strikes a
chord, the vibration of which cannot be discerned by the carnal man; preeminent
because it is the Song of the Lamb who stands in the midst of the throne, the King of
kings and Lord of lords, the High Priest of our
profession, who in all things has preeminence!
This
“song” is undoubtedly the truth of the divine purpose of the ages, or the
“present truth,” as we often call it.
Many of those who now read these lines sense the establishment of a new
order by the glorious appearing of Christ within. Within my innermost being there is an
understanding and a hope that refuses to be quieted or stilled. It is the hope of overcoming all things,
awaking in His likeness, with a greater glory and power than anything we have
known in the past. My spirit sings the
glad Hosannas of a new morning of joy, because of the vision of the greater
glory and life of Christ now being raised up in His body on earth. And that song within persists until it purges
out all the negative influences of the past, and cleanses me throughout. Ah, my beloved, does your spirit within you
sing the glad Hosannas
of this new day? Does this
new song, this fresh word, this pristine working of life and resurrection power
purge out all the error, carnality, sin, and death, making you pure even as He is pure?
This
indeed is the
glory of this new day to which we are come!
The glory of Christ is now arising upon His elect sons. He is among us now in a new and greater
degree of His presence, and His greater presence within is imparting a glorious
song of joy and victory. Our long battle
for the land of our inheritance is coming to an end. We are approaching the throne where reigns
the King! We are assured that a new day
is dawning not only for us, but for all the nations and for all the peoples of
earth! God is about to fill the whole
earth with His glory! The song within is
Christ giving a fresh word of promise and fulfillment! If we have learned this “song,” there is
surely much cause for “abounding with thanksgiving,” for it means that our
great and heavenly Father has taken us into His confidence and revealed to us
the hidden things of His eternal purpose.
Thereby He has dispelled the darkness with which we were surrounded, and
brought us out of our Babylon
of confusion. The many unanswered
questions which raised only doubts and fears within, have been clarified by the
clear revelation of the Spirit. Now we
see His glory as it is made up of His infinite wisdom, almighty power, divine
righteousness, and unconditional and abounding love. Truly the Lord has put a song in our mouths —
the song of Moses and the Lamb! It is a
song which grows more melodious as we continue to sing it unto the Lord and to
one another, and ultimately to every nation and people and to all
creation! And what joy and peace that
song will bring!
As
I pointed out, we don’t know the melody of the song in a literal way, but that
does not matter, for the great truth is that throughout the scriptures a “song”
denotes a “message.” You could put a hundred
different melodies to the words and not
one of them would change the message!
The message is what God is after and it is also what the overcomer is
after. And the message is just this: “Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God
Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify
Thy name? for Thou
only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for
Thy judgments are made manifest” (Rev. 15:3-4). Now, my beloved brethren, see if you can sing
that song! Someone says, “Well, they are
just words, I think I can sing it!” But
you see, dear one, it’s not a song like the songs of earth — “song” is the
symbol, the code word signifying a message. Hear the message…see if the message strikes a
chord in your heart, see if the message resonates in your spirit.
See
if from the depths of being you can confidently proclaim, “Great and marvelous
are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways.” It is the acknowledgement that all His ways
in us, all His works in us, all His dealings
in our lives, and everything He has injected into our experience to conform us to His will and
image, the good and the evil, the blessings and the tragedies, the joyful and
the sorrowful — all is just and true. Sometimes I write to people and say,
“do trust you are experiencing God’s very best” — and truly His best is what HE
KNOWS is best for us even if we do
not comprehend it! Daily the Lord
manifests His faithfulness to us and we bear witness that His ways are
altogether right. There is no denying of
the testings and provings that come our way, yet in the spirit the fruits of
His dealings are immense and amazing!
Beyond
the manifold blessings and the unspeakable glory — also every bitter
experience, every valley
of the shadow of death, every
sorrow and seeming tragedy, all the suffering, testing, proving, pruning,
stripping, and fires of purification were just and true — and the wonderful
truth gaining access and blooming in our hearts is that all of God’s works in us are great and marvelous — wonderful and
awe-inspiring! Oh, yes! Can you sing that song? Can you truthfully say, “I have never grumbled against your will, I have never accused you concerning the things that have
happened in my life, I’ve never
blamed you for any problems and disappointments, I’ve always confessed that you
were just and true and faithful in everything that came my way.” I do not ask whether you can make yourself sing it, but is it the
spontaneous, rapturous melody humming in your soul? He who sings this song does not question God
as to why this or that happened, or why God let it happen, or why it never seems to end sometimes. “I trusted you, and look what happened.” That’s not the right song! Those who sing the song of Moses and the Lamb
have come to the place where they are assured and know beyond any hesitation or
doubt that always and in all things God is in control, there is divine
purpose in all things, and nothing can happen outside of God’s
will. Oh, what a song is this!
Can
you also sing that HE is the Lord God Almighty, and the King of kings? I am reminded of something I read
some years ago. At that time Bolivia, South America,
was facing a national election and the nation was divided between the
Christians and the Mayans. As a group of
brethren in New York joined in intercession
for Bolivia
while the election outcome was still unknown, the following prophecy was given:
The leaders you see are not the
leaders. Many of the leaders in the
church who call themselves apostles and prophets are not. Present world leaders and those being elected
are not the true leaders.
As it was in the days
of Moses, Pharaoh was the recognized leader, but God was leading through Moses.
In the day of (another)
Pharaoh, Joseph was the true leader.
In the day of Saul,
David was God’s anointed leader.
In the day of Ahab,
Elijah was leading through the Word of the Lord.
In the day of
Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel was leading through his revelation of God.
In the day of the king
of Assyria, Hezekiah’s prayer and God’s answer
through Isaiah were leading.
In the day of Jeremiah,
the kings were not leading: Jeremiah alone pronounced the seventy years of
captivity and the coming judgment.
In the day of Herod,
John the Baptist was the forerunner for Jesus Christ Himself, who was and is
leading.
Though the nations
rage, the Lord sits on His throne. They
think they are in power, but the Lord puts His hook in their noses and brings
them where He wants them to be (Ezekiel 38:4).
It is God who raises up
leaders and takes them down, and His true, chosen leaders are about to emerge —
those who have been in the time of
transition and preparation, who will speak with a clear voice God’s will and
heart for this day.
Many of the leaders you
see are not the leaders, Jesus is leading, and His true leaders are emerging.
The song continues, “Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name?” Who is the fool that would dare to doubt God’s
authority and power, who is the fool who would blame God for anything? The inference is that all the fools of the
world shall, in the final outcome, fear the Lord and glorify His name. ALL
shall honor Him and give Him glory! Is
that the song within your heart, my beloved?
“For Thou only art holy.” Can we not see by these beautiful words
that our only hope of holiness is Him living in us?
The
song goes on, “For all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments
are made manifest.” Can you sing
that song, my beloved brother, my precious sister? Oh, I would to God that all who name the name
of Christ could sing that song! How many
people in hundreds of nations around the world have lived and died through long
millenniums without ever hearing the only saving name known to man? It is strange that those who call themselves
Christians, who believe that God is the all-wise Creator, that God is
all-powerful and infinite in love, and that His Christ died for every man and
is Himself Lord of all, will, in the very next breath consign the vast billions of earth’s
inhabitants to eternal damnation in hell. A
television preacher taught on this very subject one day, and assured everyone
that if those heathen went to hell forever it certainly wasn’t God’s
fault. He used the illustration of a
snakebite victim who couldn’t make it to the hospital in time to be
healed. What an absurd, weak, and
inattentive God that preacher serves!
What
a commentary on the Christians’ weak faith that they so often speak and act as
if the kingdom of
God
might perhaps not win out, as if the gates of hell might ultimately prevail, as
if the unbelief of Adam were stronger than the claims of Calvary and the sin of
man more powerful than the precious blood of Christ! Perish such craven fears! God plans and executes; what He initiates, He
completes. Redemption is not a lifeless
philosophy, but a living force, and a divinely omnipotent power. The Saviour of the whole wide world is not a
dead Christ lying in a tomb to which we make pilgrimages, but is “the first and
the last, and the Living One…alive forevermore” and “has the keys of death and
of hell” and “has all power in heaven
and in earth” who “is not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
Let us then sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, let us sing with all our
heart and might that ALL
NATIONS SHALL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE THEE, FOR THY JUDGMENTS ARE MADE
MANIFEST! Let us press on in full
assurance that His kingdom shall consume all other kingdoms and that His cause
will triumph in all realms everywhere until GOD IS ALL IN ALL!
There
are millions of sincere believers today who are defiled by the carnal-minded
doctrines of the harlot church systems and they can neither learn nor sing this
song! Their hearts are unable to confess
the glad truth that all nations shall come and worship before our glorious
Father because His judgments are made manifest.
Either they suppose that all the nations from Adam until now are beyond restoration to the
love and salvation of God, or they hold to the erroneous notion that God’s
judgments only punish and destroy men or drive them to blaspheme His name. Their hearts are unable to perceive the wonderful
truth that it is indeed the manifest judgments of God which induce all the nations to come and
worship before the Lord! Somehow they
cannot sing that song! How my ransomed
soul exults with joy unspeakable and full of glory, giving thanks to God for
birthing this glad anthem deep within my spirit so that now I can sing the song
of Moses and the Lamb! Isn’t it
wonderful!
The
song of Moses and the Lamb reveals the two-fold ministry of the sons of
God: judgment and mercy.
On the
one hand they shall exhibit His surpassing grace, while, on the other hand,
they bring His manifest judgments in the earth.
The more the spirit of revelation unfolds the truth, the clearer we see
God’s judgments in proper perspective, that they are corrective in nature and
designed to bring forth a state of rightness in the earth. They are not executed, as many believe, in
unmerciful and unholy vengeance, for mercy
and grace shall balance the
score. Judgments are desperately needed,
but they are ever tempered
with mercy, and when they have fulfilled their purpose, the judgments end, and
the whole earth shall be full of His life and glory. Mercy recognizes the need of justice. Mercy knows that every mountain and hill must
be brought low, but mercy is there to fill
up the valley once the subduing has taken place. As the Psalmist wrote, “Justice and judgment are
the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and
truth shall go before Thy face” (Ps.
89:14). And again, “I will sing of MERCY and JUDGMENT:
unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing” (Ps. 101:1).
Truly these words are reminiscent of the song of Moses and the Lamb!
With
this thought of judgment and mercy firmly in mind, let us consider some certain
and indisputable
promises of God to specific peoples and nations. We all know the awful magnitude of the sin
and judgment which came upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Jude tells us that they are “set forth for an
example, suffering the vengeance of eternal (Gr: age-during) fire” (Jude
7). The fire was not quenched until it
had finished its work and those cities were so completely destroyed that today
there is no remaining trace of them to be found. Archeologists can only conjecture as to where
they may have been located. One would
think that after such a complete work of judgment you could just forget about Sodom and Gomorrah
and forever “write them off.” And yet,
the Lord holds forth the promise of the eventual restoration of such an
infamous city-state as Sodom! Not only that, but His
engagement to do this is linked up to His promise to restore the people
of JUDAH!
Speaking
to backslidden Jerusalem as to a harlot, God
declares to her in His great mercy, “As I
live, saith the Lord God, Sodom
thy sister hath not done, she or her daughters, as thou hast done, and thy
daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity
of thy sister Sodom,
pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of
idleness was in
her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and
needy. And they were haughty, and
committed abomination before me: therefore
I took them away as I saw good. Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou
didst multiply thy abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters
in all thine abominations which thou hast done.
When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters,
THEN WILL I BRING AGAIN THE CAPTIVITY OF THY CAPTIVES IN THE MIDST OF
THEM. When thy sisters, SODOM
and her daughters (including Gomorrah)…SHALL
RETURN TO THEIR FORMER ESTATE, then thou and thy daughters shall
return to your former estate. For thus
saith the Lord God: I will deal with thee as thou hast done…nevertheless I will remember my covenant
with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an
everlasting covenant. Then thou shalt
remember thy ways, and be ashamed. WHEN
THOU SHALT RECEIVE THY SISTERS, thine elder (Sodom)
and thy younger (Samaria)…I
will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord”
(Eze. 16:48-62).
All
of this will be much easier to understand when you remember that Sodom, Jerusalem, and Samaria are only a short
distance from one another. They were sister cities. This promised restoration of all three —
has this wonderful thing been accomplished?
History shouts aloud that it has not — not yet! But fear not, dear ones, for the same God of
faithfulness and omnipotence who declared, “And so ALL
ISRAEL shall be saved,” also promises, “SODOM shall return to her former estate.” Not their former estate of
wickedness, certainly, for then the long ages of judgment would prove
fruitless. Jesus saw this coming
restoration of Sodom when He announced to the
citizens of Capernaum, “And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell:
for if the mighty works that have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, IT WOULD HAVE
REMAINED UNTO THIS DAY. But I say unto
you, that it shall be more tolerable (favorable) for the land of Sodom in
the day of judgment, than for thee” (Mat.
11:23-24).
When
these two cities rise up in the day of judgment, under
the ministry of the manifest sons of God, it will be far easier to bring the
people of Sodom into obedience to the kingdom of Christ
than the people of Capernaum. According to the estimation of Christ,
although the people of Sodom were extremely vile
and wicked, yet, if the mighty works which were done in Capernaum had been done in Sodom
THEY WOULD HAVE REPENTED. Seeing that
such is the case, if God should fail to manifest His sons and show such
wonderful works to the people of Sodom,
He would be most unfair and altogether unjust! Capernaum,
therefore, will have to be dealt with much more severely! These verses can have no other meaning. And if the judgment is the same for the
people of both of these cities — eternal damnation in hell-fire — then Christ’s
promise that it will be “more tolerable” for the people of Sodom in the day when God’s judgments are
made manifest is absolutely meaningless.
How unscriptural and ridiculous are the ignorant traditions of men!
A.
P. Adams has written a masterful monograph on the restoration of Sodom and I here share a
portion of his scholarly wisdom. “We
need not dwell upon the history of the destruction of Sodom, all are familiar with it, or may very easily make themselves so. We know that the city was so wicked that ten
righteous persons could not be found within its walls and God destroyed them
all by ‘a horrible tempest’ of ‘fire and brimstone’ (Ps. 11:6). ‘Terrible!’ you exclaim, ‘what extraordinary
sinners they must have been to have deserved such a fearful visitation as
this!’ Why, no, they were not sinners above all men (Lk. 13:4); in fact they were
very ordinary sinners, not near as bad as many cities that are referred to in
the Bible. Their sins were just the
ordinary transgressions of all populous and wealthy cities, ancient and
modern. What were they? ‘Behold, this was the iniquity of Sodom; pride, fullness of
bread, and abundance of idleness was in her, neither did she strengthen the
hand of the poor and needy; and they were haughty, and committed abomination’
(Eze. 16:49-50). These are not
extraordinary, unusual sins. What city
ever existed, or does now exist, that could not be truthfully charged with
every one of the sins enumerated above?
Many a city has been far worse than this! The above language would not begin to
describe the ‘iniquity’ of Paris, London, or New
York. But more
surprising still, Sodom did not begin to be so bad as the so-called ‘holy city of David,’
proud and magnificent Jerusalem! The sin of Sodom
was ‘a very little thing’ in
comparison with the city of Jerusalem
(Eze. 16:47). Think of it! We know that the sin of Sodom was ‘very grievous’ (Gen. 18:20). What then must have been
the sin of highly favored Jerusalem, if
in comparison therewith the sin of Sodom
was ‘a very little thing?'
“Suppose
we take the orthodox view of this case and see how well it will stand
investigation. The case of Sodom is clear-cut and
unequivocal. We know that the Sodomites
were exceedingly wicked sinners (Gen. 13:3).
We know that when they were destroyed there were no righteous persons among them.
We know that they perished in their sins, and that none of them escaped,
all were destroyed (Lk. 17:29). Hence it is positive that these wicked
sinners have all gone to an endless hell, if the orthodox view
is correct. Is such a view in harmony
with the Bible teaching in regard to Sodom? As we have already noticed, the sin of Sodom was comparatively ‘a
very little thing.’ If the doom of Sodom for this
comparatively ‘very little’ sin is endless torment WHAT OUGHT TO BE THE
DOOM OF JERUSALEM? What ought to be the
doom of Capernaum,
and of the cities that reject the Gospel? for they
also are worse than Sodom (Mat. 10:14; 11:23-24). Sodom
did not sin against light; they knew nothing of the true God or of Jesus Christ
the Saviour. I know that Lot was among them, a righteous man, but we have every
reason to believe that he was more interested in his worldly prosperity than in the moral
welfare of those around him.
“At
any rate, rejection of the truth is not mentioned in the enumeration of the
sins of Sodom. Would their guilt have been any greater, if
they had committed that sin? Certainly it would, for it is on that very
account that other cities are spoken of as worse than Sodom.
This was the very reason why Jerusalem
was worse — because it sinned against great light; this was the very reason why
Capernaum was
worse; and this was the very reason given by Jesus Christ Himself why it should
be ‘more tolerable for Sodom in the day
of judgment’ than for those cities that rejected the Truth. How does the idea of its being ‘more
tolerable’ for one than for another in the future process of judgment, comport
with the idea of the same endless torment for all? Not at all!
It is arrogant nonsense to talk about more or less tolerable endless
torment, and anyone ought to be ashamed to believe or advocate any such
absurdity.
“But
graver still is the question — how can we vindicate the justice of God in His
dealing with Sodom
if the orthodox view is correct? Jesus
plainly tells us that if Sodom
had had the light and advantages that other cities had, IT WOULD HAVE REPENTED;
that light was withheld through no fault of their’s, and they perished in their
sins and are lost. Why did they not have
that light? Why did not Sodom have as good a
chance for salvation as any other class of human beings? That they did not, Christ plainly declares, and now their doom is sealed and they
are hopelessly lost, according to the popular view, when if they had had as
good an opportunity as others they would have been saved! You cannot reconcile this case with justice
and equity on the ground of prevailing theology. ‘I will bring again their captivity, the
captivity of SODOM,’
says the Lord. ‘Thy sister SODOM and her daughters
shall return to their former estate.’
What does the personal, plural pronoun their
refer to? the city or the people? The people, of course! So all through this beautiful prophecy, the
most cursory reading will show that by the term Sodom is meant in every case
the inhabitants of that ancient city.
The pronouns ‘they,’ ‘their,’ and ‘them’ cannot refer to the city or
to the land specifically, but to the people — the inhabitants of Sodom!” — end quote.
Another
striking example of God’s dealings with nations and His future plans for them
is found in the ancient nation of Assyria. It was once one of the six great empires that
have ruled the civilized world, preceding Babylon. In Zephaniah 2:13-15 the Lord pronounced His
judgment against Assyria, saying, “And He will stretch out His hand against the
north, and destroy Assyria; and He will make Nineveh (the capital of Assyria)
a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.
This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her
heart, I am,
and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts
to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall
hiss, and wag his hand.” Today,
thousands of years later, there are still only some dirt mounds covering the
site of Nineveh, nor does the kingdom of Assyria
exist any more at all! How thoroughly
does God execute His word!
But
now, hear this! “And the Lord shall be
known to Egypt,
and the Egyptians shall know
the Lord in that day…yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform
it. And the Lord shall smite Egypt:
He shall smite it and heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord. In that day there shall be an
highway OUT OF EGYPT TO
ASSYRIA, and the ASSYRIAN shall come into Egypt,
and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians
shall serve with the Assyrians. In that
day shall ISRAEL be the
third with EGYPT and with
ASSYRIA, even a blessing in the midst of the land: whom the Lord of hosts shall
bless, saying, BLESSED BE EGYPT
MY PEOPLE, AND ASSYRIA THE WORK OF MY HANDS, AND ISRAEL MINE INHERITANCE.” To say that there will not be a restoration
of the nation of Assyria and that God will not
save that nation would be a blatant repudiation of the Word of God. And notice, too, Egypt
today is a Moslem nation and the
State of Israel
is gathered in unbelief, a secular State; but according to the above prophecy Egypt
also shall come to know the Lord and SERVE HIM AS A NATION ALONG WITH ISRAEL
AND ASSYRIA. What anticipation this
stirs in our hearts!
Now
hear the words of the Lord against two other peoples, Moab and Ammon. “Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of
hosts, the God of Israel,
surely Moab shall
be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the
breeding of nettles and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation” (Zeph. 2:9). This judgment would seem to be final, and
would be if the judgment of Sodom
is forever sealed in eternal punishment — but it is only final until
the judgment is completed! For
God says of Moab in Jeremiah
48:47, “YET will I bring the captivity of Moab in the latter days…” Again, in Jeremiah 49:6 the Lord
promises concerning Ammon, “And afterward I will bring again the
captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the Lord.” If one reads only a portion of God’s words, the
facts are too few to calculate rightly the curve of God’s purposes. May the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God enable us to
see beyond the weeping of the night that we may behold the JOY THAT COMETH IN
THE MORNING!
When
every judgment shall have fulfilled its purpose, the judgments will end, and ALL NATIONS shall be
filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the
sea. “And He will destroy in this
mountain (the kingdom
of God)
the face of the covering cast over all
people, and the veil (of ignorance and blindness) that is spread over all nations.
And He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord shall wipe
away tears from off all faces. And it shall be said in that day, Lo,
this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord;
we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in HIS SALVATION” (Isa.
25:7-9).
The Lord is
King! Lift up your voice,
O earth; and all ye heavens rejoice:
From world to world the joy shall ring,
The Lord Omnipotent is King!
The Lord is King! Who then shall dare
Resist His will, distrust His care,
Or murmur at His wise decrees,
Or doubt His royal promises?
The Lord is King! Child of the dust,
The Judge of all the earth is just;
Holy and true are all His ways:
Let every creature speak His praise.
One Lord, one empire, all secures;
He reigns, and life and death are
yours:
Through earth and heaven one song shall
ring,
The Lord Omnipotent is King!
“Great
and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty: just and true are Thy ways,
thou King of saints. Who shall not fear
Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art
holy: for all nations shall come and
worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest” (Rev. 15:3-4).
Nothing
is more evident in the Word of God than the fact that God has a great and
wonderful plan which He is working out among the nations of earth. Many saints recognize that God has a
predestined purpose for each of His people, an appointed end for Israel,
a glorious purpose for the Church, and a foreordained plan for the overcoming
sons of God. We must also understand
that the Lord has a determined plan and purpose for ALL NATIONS.
God is actively dealing with NATIONS!
From
the first dawn of human history God has had the formation, development, and
destiny of nations in mind and purpose.
The present nations of earth had their origins in the early days
following the Great Flood. In Genesis
chapter ten is found a most remarkable and comprehensive list of the
descendants of Noah who became the heads of the families and tribes which
subsequently developed
into nations. Even
so-called higher critics have often admitted that the tenth chapter of Genesis
is a remarkably accurate historical document.
There is no comparable catalog of ancient nations available from any
other source. It is unparalleled in its
antiquity and comprehensiveness. You
would do well to read the entire chapter.
The
descendants of Noah migrated over the whole face of the earth, forming tribe
after tribe, city after city, and nation
after nation. Let all men know that
it is the Almighty God who is the designer and architect of all the nations in
the world! The time periods and
localities in which nations flourish have all be pre-arranged by the will of
Him who “worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:11).
The truth of this cannot be made any plainer than it is by Moses when he
declares, “When the most High divided the nations their
inheritance, when He separated the
sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the
children of Israel”
(Deut. 32:8). Paul refers to this very passage when he
says, “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on
all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and
the bounds
of their habitation; that they
should seek the Lord” (Acts 17:26-27).
How plain it is that it was GOD who, from that long-ago beginning, set
the bounds of habitation or the national boundaries of all nations. These boundaries were established in relation
to the vast multitude of Israel
peoples and with a view to their being able to seek after the Lord.
Yes,
God set the bounds of habitation for all nations and planted Israel of old at the crossroads, to
the end that ALL NATIONS should seek after the Lord. Out
of Israel
came the Christ; out of Christ has come the church, His bride (Eph. 5:21-33);
out of the church comes the manchild, the overcoming sons of God who are
destined to reign with Christ and deliver the
whole creation that it might be fulfilled which God promised father Abraham:
“And in thy seed shall ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED” (Gen.
22:18). ALL NATIONS shall be blessed! What a
prospect! From the very beginning God
not only designed the nations of men that dwell upon the earth; He also planned
and purposed to bless them — each and
every one of them! This signifies not
merely the blessing of Israel,
nor the blessing of the church, nor the blessing of the saints of God within
the nations; it is THE NATIONS THEMSELVES that must come under the gracious
hand of God in blessing and quickening.
Oh, the wonder of it!
The
sweet singer of Israel
sang of this blessed hope in the spirit of prophecy: “God be merciful unto us,
and bless us; and cause His face to shine upon us; that Thy way may be known
upon earth, Thy saving health among ALL
NATIONS. Let the people praise Thee, O
God; let ALL
the people praise Thee! O let THE
NATIONS be glad and sing for joy: for Thou shalt JUDGE THE PEOPLE righteously,
and GOVERN THE NATIONS upon earth…yea, ALL
KINGS shall fall down before Him: ALL NATIONS SHALL SERVE
HIM” (Ps. 67:1-4; 72:11). What a
word! It is obvious that all nations do
not today serve the Lord, neither do all kings (rulers) fall down before Him. China does not serve the Lord,
neither do its rulers acknowledge Him. Iran
does not serve the Lord. Japan
does not serve the Lord. Great numbers
of nations do not today serve the Lord, and few of their rulers fall down
before Him. But the day is surely coming
when all nations shall be joined to the Lord and fulfill their obligations to Him as their
Maker and Saviour. If that day never comes, then the
Bible will have to be relegated to the scrapheap of ancestral errors. But the promise is sure: “Arise, O God, judge the earth: for Thou shalt INHERIT
ALL NATIONS, ALL NATIONS whom Thou
has made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord; and shall glorify Thy
name. For Thou art great, and doest wondrous
things” (Ps. 82:8; 86:9-10).
Many
precious “fragments” reveal God’s ultimate purpose for mankind, when “ALL the ends of the
world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and ALL KINDREDS OF THE NATIONS
shall worship before Thee, for the kingdom is the Lord’s and HE is the governor
among the nations” (Ps. 22:27-28). For further confirmation of
God’s gracious intention toward the nations let us consider the second
Psalm. In this wonderful prophecy the Father is addressing
the Son, saying, “Ask of me, and I WILL GIVE THEE THE NATIONS FOR THINE
INHERITANCE, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession” (Ps.
2:8). Surely the will and plan of God is
revealed in
this most gracious request, and surely this was the purpose for which Jesus came and was sent. “The Father sent His Son to be the Saviour of THE
WORLD” (I Jn. 4:14). With this divine
plan in view, well may David triumphantly sing, “O let THE NATIONS be glad and
sing for joy, for Thou shalt judge the
people righteously, and govern the
nations upon earth…God shall bless us, and ALL the ends of the earth shall fear
(reverence) HIM” (Ps. 67:4-7). “ALL NATIONS shall call
Him blessed…and blessed be His glorious name forever, and let THE WHOLE EARTH
be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen”
(Ps. 72:17-19).
And
this, precious friend of mine, is the message of the song of Moses and the
Lamb! All the holy sons of God sing that
song, for it is the song of redemption for all men and every nation. Only the overcomers stand upon the
glassy sea intoning this hymn of salvation for all! Only the enlightened elect of the
Lord, in whose hearts have been birthed the beautiful truths of the
reconciliation of all and the triumph of the kingdom of God,
are able to learn that song and sing that song! Out of all the inhabitants of the earth, only those
who have received the call
to sonship, leaving the precincts of religious Babylon, and coming under the purifying fires
of God mingled in the crystal sea have
been given voice to intone the beautiful strains of the song of Moses and the
Lamb! The multitudes in the church systems of man have not and
can not at this time learn this song,
because of their unbelief. Oh, ye
blessed sons of God, lift it up on high, let the refrain ring throughout the
unbounded heavens and reverberate unto the extremities of earth — for the time
is at hand!
To
be continued… J. PRESTON EBY
