Autobiography of Frank G. Allen, Minister of the Gospel Part 13

So we may subst.i.tute nothing for that which G.o.d has given. We must eat the bread which G.o.d provides, else all our eating will be in vain.

3. It is well understood by all cla.s.ses that the wants of the physical man need to be daily supplied. To meet these demands, is the chief concern of the great ma.s.s of humanity. Observe that young man. He is in the vigor of robust manhood. He has just enjoyed a night's refres.h.i.+ng sleep and a hearty breakfast. His system seems to be overflowing with an excess of vitality. He goes forth to his work boastful of his strength. But how many hours is it till nature cries aloud for the replenis.h.i.+ng of his strength? How long can he live on the boastful supply of his physical manhood? A few days finds him as helpless as a babe. So essential is physical food to physical life.

Nor is spiritual food less essential to spiritual life. As new-born babes we need the unadulterated milk of the word, that we may grow thereby. As men and women, we need the strong meat adapted to our maturity. The great mistake is in trying to live the spiritual life without spiritual food. The strong men in Christ are the good feeders.

Those who feed upon the bread of heaven will develop in that which is heavenly. No man has religion enough at the start to take him through life, unless he dies early. The foolishness of the five foolish virgins consisted in their not taking an additional supply of oil. So it is now with every one who does not daily replenish his supply of spirituality.

He who tries to live without communion with G.o.d--in reading, in praying, in meditation and obedience to the divine will--will end in shameful failure.

Christian character is a growth, not a divine impartation. G.o.d does not give spiritual strength in an arbitrary way. He provides the means to that end. If we use them, strength results. If we neglect them, we die in feebleness. The means in the figure before us is the bread of life, and the bread of life is Christ. There is an absolute necessity, therefore, for feeding upon Him. From Him all spiritual strength is derived. He is the source of all life. He said to His disciples: "Without me, ye can do nothing." As the branch draws its nourishment and fruit-bearing qualities from the vine, so we draw all spirituality and fruitfulness from Christ. We are fruitful in proportion as we abide in the Vine; and we are strong in proportion to our feeding on the bread of life.

4. G.o.d permitted Israel to gather manna for one day only at a time. So in teaching His disciples to pray, the Saviour said: "Give us this day our daily bread." Our bread of life is a never-failing supply. There was no need of laying up manna, for G.o.d gave a fresh and abundant supply every morning. This daily supply never ceased till their pilgrimage was over. Of this they had a.s.surance. Hence an attempt to lay up a supply for future use was to distrust the G.o.d of their fathers. The true bread of heaven is as unfailing as was the typical bread of the wilderness. G.o.d's people will ever have an abundant supply of that bread of which, if a man eats, he shall never hunger. Hence the Saviour says: "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

5. The world has been greatly concerned about food for six thousand years. The gratification of the appet.i.te has both blessed and cursed the race. Life has ever depended upon food; hence food has been the chief concern of man. During the history of the world the race has been ignorant of the processes of digestion and a.s.similation. They have known nothing of the chemistry of this source of life. They have gone on from age to age building up their bodies by taking food, wholly ignorant of the process by which it was done. The value of the thing eaten has never depended on a knowledge of the process by which it was a.s.similated. We thank G.o.d that it is thus with the bread of life. We may never expect to comprehend the "mystery of G.o.dliness" in this life.

Just how the bread of life enables us to live forever, we are not concerned to know. It is enough for us to know that it is so. Let us, then, appropriate this rich provision of G.o.d's grace, and the blessing will be ours.

NEW TESTAMENT VIEWS OF CHRIST.

III.--CHRIST THE WATER OF LIFE.

"Jesus answered and said unto her, Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life" (John iv. 13, 14).

"Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink"

(John vii. 37).

"And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ" (I.

Cor. x. 4).

Twice was a rock smitten by Moses in the wilderness to supply the Israelites with water. The first was at Rephidim, in the wilderness of Sin, during the first year of their Exodus, before they came to Mount Sinai. The second was at Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, in the fortieth year of the Exodus. It is evident that the apostle refers to the first of these, though we can hardly think, with most commentators known to us, that he does so exclusively. The fact that the rock followed them, as a type of Christ, in their wilderness life, demands that it be from the beginning, rather than the end, of their journey.

And the fact that many who drank of it fell in the wilderness, requires the same conclusion. But for reasons yet to appear, we think the two are considered as one. The miracle was in all respects the same in the second as in the first. There was the same dependence for life on the second as the first. There was the same necessity that the second rock or stream should follow them as there was of the first; for they were yet a long way from Canaan, with a waterless desert before them. We can, therefore, see no reason why the first should be a type of Christ and not the second.

Was it the stream or the rock which followed the Israelites? Paul says the rock. But commentators seem generally to agree that the "rock" is here put by metonymy for the water of the rock, Barnes says, "It would be absurd to suppose that the rock that was smitten by Moses literally followed them in the wilderness." Just why it is more "absurd" to suppose the rock followed them, than the stream from a stationary fountain at h.o.r.eb, we are wholly unable to see. Let us look at the facts and probabilities in the case.

We must keep in view the important fact, as mentioned in the last chapter, that these people were _dependent on G.o.d_. They had seen the mighty hand of G.o.d in their delivery, and now they were to be taught dependence on Him, as the only source of life. They had, therefore, to be sustained by miraculous food and miraculous drink. The country supplied neither food nor water. The miraculous supply of water was as great a necessity as that of bread. For two or three millions of people, with their flocks and herds, a large stream, even a small river, would be required. It is also true that their cattle had to have food, as well as themselves. Just how this was furnished, we are not told. Here is a large field for conjecture. It is generally held that the river continued to flow from a stationary source at h.o.r.eb, and that it irrigated the country in its following of the people, and thus caused vegetation for the flocks and herds. But in the fortieth year they are again found without water. Why was this? What had become of the river that had followed them from the first year, if it was the river, and not the rock, that followed them? On this point we can not refrain from quoting Macknight and Barnes, as examples of how learned commentators, led by a theory, sometimes drop their readers into a perfect abyss of darkness. Macknight says: "For as Wall observes, from h.o.r.eb, which was a high mountain, there may have been a descent to the sea; and the Israelites during the thirty-seven years of their journeying from Mount Sinai may have gone by those tracts of country in which the waters from h.o.r.eb could follow them, till in the thirty-ninth year of the Exodus they came to Ezion-gaber (Num. x.x.xiii. 36), which was a part of the Red Sea a great way down the Arabian side, where it is supposed the waters from h.o.r.eb went into that sea." Barnes says: "Mount h.o.r.eb was higher than the adjacent country, and the water that thus gushed from the rock, instead of collecting into a pool and becoming stagnant, would flow off in the direction of the sea. The sea to which it would naturally flow would be the Red Sea. The Israelites doubtless, in their journeyings, would be influenced by the natural direction of the water, or would not wander far from it, as it was daily needful for the supply of their wants. At the end of thirty-seven years we find the Israelites at Ezion-gaber, a seaport on the eastern branch of the Red Sea, where the waters probably flowed into the sea (Num. x.x.xiii. 36). In the fortieth year of their departure from Egypt, they left this place to go into Canaan, by the country of Edom, and were immediately in distress again by the want of water."

These comments involve several objectionable features. (1) The Israelites were guided in their course by the pillar of cloud and fire; not by the stream of water on its course to the sea. (2) Paul says the rock followed them; not that they followed the river. (3) We can not allow that when G.o.d sets out to work a miracle, He is defeated by natural causes. The idea that the river ran into the sea, and left the children of Israel without water, just because the situation would naturally lead to that result, is to let go the miracle and have G.o.d defeated, because the surroundings are not favorable! The idea that G.o.d could cause a river to flow from a flinty rock, and then have to leave it to seek its natural way to the sea, leaving His people dest.i.tute when the surface of the country would be in the way of its natural flow, is equaled only by admitting that G.o.d created the heavens and the earth, but could not give sight to the blind or call Lazarus out of the grave. We, therefore, repeat the question, If the river followed the people, what became of it when they came into the wilderness of Zin?

On the hypothesis that it was the rock which followed them, just as Paul says it was, there is nothing unreasonable in the supposition that for some cause, not given, G.o.d withheld the flow of water to chastise them for their wickedness, as He did in other ways, and make them realize their dependence. As favoring this idea, when they were dest.i.tute the second time, and cried unto Moses in their distress, G.o.d told him to gather the people together and speak unto _the rock_. Not only was there a suitable rock present for the second river of water, but it seemed to be a particular rock. Hence designated "_the_ rock."

Our conclusion is, therefore, that the two rocks were one; that it followed the Israelites during their entire journey to Canaan, supplying the people with the _fresh_ out-gus.h.i.+ngs of its crystal stream. That rock was typical of Christ, and the blessings of Christ are never stale or stagnant, as the water from a fountain in h.o.r.eb would have been, after winding its sluggish way through the parched desert of Arabia.

"That rock was Christ." That is, it was a type of Him. All those transactions were typical. "Now these things happened unto them by way of types; and they were written for our admonition."

"A dry and thirsty land where no water is," well represents this world to one who has not an ever-present Saviour as the fountain of the water of life. As the Israelites would have perished without the crystal flow from the flinty rock, so perishes the world without Christ. There is no appet.i.te more distressing than thirst. There is nothing more delightful than the cooling draught to the parched throat. Oh, to those who thus "thirst after righteousness," how delightful it is to be "filled"! "As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O G.o.d." Only the thirsty can appreciate drink; so only those who first feel the need of a Saviour can experience the joy of salvation.

Not only shall the thirsty soul be satisfied that drinks of the water of life, but it shall "become within him a well of water springing up unto eternal life." This refres.h.i.+ng and ever-present fountain of life flows for all. "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." To slake one's thirst at this fountain, is a foretaste of the river of life that flows from beneath the throne in the eternal city of G.o.d.

Many who drank of the typical water of the wilderness, fell under the displeasure of G.o.d, and died short of the promised land. Hence we should be careful to live ever near to the water of life, that our thirsty souls may be continually supplied, and our strength renewed.

Only by being constantly refreshed can we be saved from peris.h.i.+ng in the wilderness and kept unto the land of G.o.d beyond.

NEW TESTAMENT VIEWS OF CHRIST.

IV.--CHRIST THE SON OF G.o.d.

"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living G.o.d" (Matt. xvi. 16).

"Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of G.o.d, G.o.d abideth in him and he in G.o.d" (I. John iv. 15).

"And who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of G.o.d?" (I. John v. 5).

In one sense all men are sons of G.o.d. In a much dearer sense all Christians are sons and daughters of the Almighty. But the relations.h.i.+p of Christ to the Father is infinitely above this. He is _the_ Son of G.o.d. G.o.d is His Father by direct production, without the agency of a human father. The same divine power that can create life through the agency of man, can create it without such agency. Hence there is nothing to stumble over in the idea of the miraculous conception, to one who fully accepts the G.o.d of the Bible in the character in which He is revealed as a divine creator. To accept G.o.d as the creator of heaven and earth, and then stagger at His performance of any miracle is a logical absurdity.

Jesus claimed to be the Son of G.o.d in the high sense that involved equality with the Father. He said: "I and the Father are one." On account of this relations.h.i.+p, "He thought it not robbery to be equal with G.o.d." His enemies understood that this equality was involved in His claim; hence they charged Him with blasphemy in making Himself equal with G.o.d.

This was a high claim on the part of the Nazarene. He claimed to be more than a man. When some said that He was John, or Elijah, or Jeremiah, or some one of the prophets, they underestimated Him according to His claim. The greatest prophet, or inspired teacher, that had ever appeared among men, _even if raised from the dead as the special messenger of G.o.d to His people_, could not meet the demands involved in the claim of Jesus, that He was the Son of G.o.d.

This high claim had to be sustained by two distinct lines of testimony--miracles and a sinless life. The purpose of miracles is to establish the claims of the miracle-worker and to glorify G.o.d. The miracles of Jesus establish His divine mission and claim to the Messiahs.h.i.+p. No man could do the miracles He did "except G.o.d be with him;" and G.o.d would not be with one who was advocating false claims.

The enemies of Jesus understood this; hence they said: "G.o.d heareth not sinners." Miracles are the substratum of the foundation underlying our faith.

While the divine claims of Jesus are attested by His miracles, the evidence is crowned by His sublime character. His life is itself among the most wonderful of miracles. As a child of poverty and a son of toil, He lived thirty years among men. When He afterwards claimed to be the Son of G.o.d, He had many bitter enemies. They persecuted Him even unto death, and yet not one of them ever pointed to an act of His private life as inconsistent with, or unworthy of, His divine claim.

This simple fact speaks volumes as to the purity of His life. The world has contained but one such. The very life which His claims require is the life revealed on the sacred page.

Infidels have ordinarily contented themselves with mere negations. They seem not to realize the fact that in denying some things they are logically bound to account for others. If we deny the claim of Jesus that He is the Son of G.o.d, then we have to account for His miracles, His life, the disposal of His entombed body, and the establishment and development of His kingdom. These are facts. As such they have to be accounted for. On the hypothesis that Jesus is the Christ, all difficulty vanishes. On any other, it is more than the world has yet been able to meet. Skeptics laud the character of Jesus as a model of purity, such as the world has never elsewhere found, and yet deny the claim on which was based His mission to men and on which He built His church. How the establishment of a religion upon a known falsehood can harmonize with a life of faultless purity, they do not pretend to tell us, for it is a palpable absurdity. How His disciples could testify on a point of fact in regard to which they could not be mistaken, and surrender all worldly position and comfort, and life itself, to establish a known falsehood in the hearts of men, in which they--the witnesses--could have no personal interest, they leave in the Egyptian darkness characteristic of their system. How can he account for American history and American inst.i.tutions who denies the existence of Was.h.i.+ngton, or claims that he was a disreputable impostor? How, then, shall he account for the history and inst.i.tutions of civilization who denies to Jesus of Nazareth existence as a man of that age and country, or makes Him a base deceiver and vile impostor?

That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of G.o.d, is the fundamental, pivotal fact in the Christian religion. It underlies every other feature of the Christian system. On it turn the value and significance of every other item of the faith. Everything takes position with regard to this, and derives its value from it. With this, all else stands by divine appointment, and bears the seal of heaven. Without it, the whole system is but as the chaff which the wind driveth away.

When the proposition is established that Jesus is the Son of G.o.d, every other feature of the Christian system rests upon _authority_. Nothing else has to be proved as this does. Before establis.h.i.+ng this proposition, the word of Jesus settles nothing. After its establishment, it settles everything. When we accept Him as the Christ, we accept all else on His authority. Hence He says, "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" "All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." The making and baptizing of disciples rests upon the authority of Jesus, and that authority is based upon His Messiahs.h.i.+p. So of every other item of the Christian system of faith.

The great inconsistency and consequent weakness of the religious world, is in not accepting the simple authority of Jesus as conclusive and wholly sufficient on any matter on which He has expressed the divine mind. As the Son of G.o.d and coronated Lord of lords, His authority is supreme, and His word is law. What He says is to be accepted as infallibly true, and the end of all controversy. Whatever He directs is to be done, simply because He directs it. Whatever else we may consider a corroborative reason, the direction of Jesus alone is to determine our action. Only this can be the obedience of faith. And in regard to what He directs, there can be no compromise. The King speaks to be obeyed, not to be argued with. It is His prerogative to command; ours to obey.

Jesus made His authority the controlling principle in His religion.

Where this is maintained, the religion of Christ is preserved in its purity. Where it is disregarded, anything follows that the tastes and follies of men may demand. The religion of Christ is pure or corrupt in proportion as His authority is observed or ignored.

The authority of Jesus can not be separated from His appointments. His entire authority is embodied in each of His appointments. Hence he who disregards an appointment of Jesus Christ, disregards His authority.

And he who disregards His authority, ignores His Lords.h.i.+p. The man who deliberately refuses to do what Christ directs, ignores the authority of his Lord, and dethrones the Son of the living G.o.d. Yet how much of this do we see among men! Not only in the world, but in the church as well. It seems strange that one should make a profession of the religion of Christ, and yet thus ignore His Lords.h.i.+p. The authority of Jesus against a life of indifference in the church, of non-attendance, of want of cooperation in the work of the Lord, against carnality, pleasure-loving, worldliness, the l.u.s.ts of the flesh, want of spirituality, and such like, is as direct and positive as that against rejecting the gospel of Christ; and yet how many church members, all over our land, are disregarding the authority of Jesus in these matters. Those who make a profession of religion and live in the church without continuing to honor the Lord Jesus by regarding His authority and complying with His will, would better have never known the way of life. The authority of Jesus follows us to the grave, and is never relaxed for a day. His will, not ours, is to rule in our life. Our desires, however strong, are to be subordinated to the mind of Him who gave His life for ours, and said, "all authority in heaven and on earth is given unto me."

It is the height of inconsistency, therefore, to exalt the name of Jesus in words and professions, and speak lightly of, or disregard any one of His appointments. It is not only inconsistent; it is disloyal and wicked. This is the great stumbling-block in our way to the indors.e.m.e.nt of Mr. Moody and such men. We care not what else he may be, we can indorse no man who tears in two the commission of Jesus Christ.

He who refuses to "speak as the oracles of G.o.d speak," in order to promote his work, is not doing the work that G.o.d would have him do. We can not honor Christ without honoring His teaching, and we can not honor His teaching by withholding a part of it from those inquiring the way of eternal life. We can honor Jesus as the Son of G.o.d only by declaring His whole counsel, and yielding submissively in all things to His divine authority.

This acceptance of Jesus as an infallible teacher, as one whose every word is to be believed simply because He said it, and whose every direction is to be observed simply because He directs it, whose spirit is to be possessed and cultivated to the transforming of the life, till we grow into the divine image and become partakers of the divine nature, is all involved in the "good confession": Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living G.o.d.

NEW TESTAMENT VIEWS OF CHRIST.