Psalm 98:7-9. ‘Let the sea roar, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell in it; let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together before the LORD, for he is coming to judge the earth.  With righteousness He shall judge the world, and the people with equity.’

It seems to me that the greatest difference between First Century Christians and those living today concerns their respective attitudes to the Return of the Lord Jesus Christ.  To the earliest followers of our Lord, His return was, as I shall show presently, of the very first importance.  It was their hope in their deep poverty and worldly hopelessness; it was their consolation under persecution and their great joy whenever they met together.  In contrast, most 21^st Century believers are scarcely concerned with it (1).  It is as if they have taken out their insurance policy against judgement and condemnation by becoming Christians, and now they are determined to enjoy life here on earth as much as possible.

In recent days I have become aware of a teaching on the Return of Christ that is mercifully rare in Britain, but which seems to be becoming more popular in the U.S.A.  This is Hyper-preterism (2), and it teaches that all prophecy, without exception, was fulfilled in AD 70 when Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple were destroyed by the Roman armies under Titus.  The Lord Jesus, it is claimed, returned invisibly at that time, and is therefore not coming again, ever.  Believers therefore should not expect any return of Christ, but will go as disembodied spirits to be with the Lord when they die.

This teaching is, of course, totally divorced from the teaching of the Bible and also from all the Confessions of faith from the earliest times until today.  The Apostles Creed, dated at around 150AD says of our Lord :  ‘He ascended into heaven,  and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;  from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.’  I don’t propose to become obsessed with Hyper-preterism in this article, but I shall point out its inconsistencies as we proceed.

The simplest and clearest  statement in the Bible concerning our Lord’s return is found in Acts 1:11. 

‘Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,
who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven”’(Acts 1:9-11).

 The most important thing to note here is that our Lord will return the same manner as He left.  Therefore we can make some observations concerning His coming.

 1. People saw Him go.  ‘While they watched, He was taken up.’  People will see Him return.

2. Clouds obscured His rising into heaven.  Clouds will part to reveal Him (Mark 14:62; Rev 1:7).

3. He left physically, in a body that was ‘Flesh and bones,’  that could be touched and which ate food (Luke 24:39-43).  He will return physically, in that same body.

4. It is ‘This same Jesus’ who will return.  Not another Jesus, a metaphorical Jesus or an invisible Jesus, but the very One who left.

 This ascension, witnessed by the eleven Apostles must have formed the teaching that was given to new Christians, as we can see in the following verses.

 ‘And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,
 so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe.  For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything.  For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come’ (1 Thes 1:6-10).

 The Thessalonian Christians, who had received Paul’s preaching as the  very word of God (1Thes 2:13) in the midst of violence and persecution (Acts 17:5-10) so great that Paul had to be spirited out of the city by night, had nonetheless held firm in their profession of Christ and had become a byword throughout Greece for their faithfulness.  Now they were serving God and eagerly awaiting the Return of Christ.

 ‘I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus,
 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Cor 1:4-8).

 The Corinthian Christians had experienced the grace of God in their lives.  The church was blessed by the gifts of many of them.  Those gifts led them to await eagerly the return of Christ and Paul assures them that the Lord Jesus will keep His sheep safely until He shall come, so that on that great day, they should be found spotless and innocent through the merits of Christ.

 ‘If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. O Lord, come!’ (1Cor 16:22).

 Paul longs for the Lord Jesus to come and administer justice to those who do not love Him.

 ’For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself’ (Phil 3:20-21).

 The Philippians were Roman citizens from an earthly point of view, but their real home was heaven, and they were eagerly look forward to the return of their Lord and Saviour who would change their mortal decaying bodies to glorious resurrection bodies (1 Cor 15:42-44) after the manner of the Lord Jesus Christ, the firstfruits from the dead (1Cor 15:20-23).   

 ‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ’ (Titus 2:11-13).

Paul has been telling Titus to teach the Cretans how to behave as Christians.  He runs through old and young, male and female, slave and free (vs 1-10).  Their faith must show forth in a new life, for the grace of God (ie. Christ) has appeared to all these groups of people, but it hasn’t appeared so that we can carry on living just as we did before; we have new life- but why?  Because we have new hope (v 13).  We now Have a hope- that this life isn’t all that there is and we have to push and shove to get our own way- we have something so much better to look forward to.

 ’And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation’ (Heb 9:27-28).

 Christ came the first time to bring reconciliation between sinful men and a righteous God.  When He comes the second time, it will be to bring salvation, but not to all men.  He will bring salvation to those who are eagerly waiting for Him.  Is that you?

 ‘Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing’ (2 Tim 4:8).

Paul knows that he is reaching the end of his earthly life.  He is not distressed, knowing that when he dies, his spirit will go to be with the Lord (2 Cor 5:8; Phil 1:23).  But he is looking to something beyond that; to the return of Christ, when the dead shall be raised in their resurrection bodies (1 Cor 15:51-54) and all men shall be judged (Matt 25:31ff; Rev 20:11ff) according to their deeds, whether they trusted in Christ or not and whether their deeds vouched for their profession (Acts 26:20).  Clearly, one of those deeds is to love the thought of the appearing of Christ in glory.

 ‘Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ’ (1 Peter 1:13).

 Peter tells his readers to be steady and sensible and to rest their hopes not on this transient world (1 John 2:17), but on the world to come which will be revealed when the Lord Jesus returns.

 ’Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy’ (1 Peter 4:12-13).

 Peter reminds us that suffering and disappointment are part of life here on earth (John 16:33).  Our suffering, to whatever extent it may come to us, is a proof that we are one with our suffering Saviour.  Therefore, we rejoice in tribulations (Rom 5:3), knowing that they are of short duration (2 Cor 4:17)and that they shall all be forgotten when our Lord returns.

 Now let me ask you:  is it likely that what all these Christians- in Thessalonika, in Philippi, in Corinth, in Crete- were so eagerly anticipating, was in fact the destruction of Jerusalem?  If the believers in Philippi were expecting that that event would,  ‘Transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body,’ then they would have been grievously disappointed.  They would not even have heard about the event for several weeks or months, and when they did hear of it, their lives changed not one iota, and their bodies continued to age and decay.  No, no!  These First Century Christians were awaiting the visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, and when they came to the end of their lives, they were not one whit disappointed that He had not yet come;  ‘For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first’ (1 Thes 4:15-16).

Let me ask you, the reader:  are you eagerly awaiting, longing for and loving the return of the Lord Jesus Christ as these 1^st Century Christians were?  If not, why not?  Is it perhaps because your life in this world has become so comfortable and agreeable that you are really not concerned whether our Lord returns or not?  Are you therefore quite amenable to any suggestion that actually He is not coming back at all, or at least, at any time soon?  Would you in fact be quite disappointed if the Lord returned tonight and put an end to all your worldly enjoyments and plans?   If so, then I suggest that this is a rather serious matter.  Is not our Lord’s return our “Blessed hope” (Titus 2:13)?  Remember that according to the verses above, the Lord will be bringing salvation ‘To those who eagerly wait for Him,’ and the ‘Crown of righteousness’ that the Lord will bestow comes to ‘All who have loved His appearing,’ and by implication to no one else.

 Is it not time to ‘Seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory’ (Col 3:1-4).

In a future article, we shall look at objections to this doctrine and try to spell it out in a little more detail.

Notes.

1.  I must confess that there are some honourable exceptions to this stricture.  Dispensational Premillennialists are often far more active in proclaiming their understanding of the end-times than those who, like myself, take an Amillennialist position.  Here in Britain, the Prophetic witness movement hold regular meetings throughout the country on the subject.  I disagree with their teachings, but I applaud their zeal.

2.  Hyper-preterists call themselves ‘Full Preterists.’  Preterism itself comes from the Latin word Praeter which means ‘beyond’ or possibly ‘past.’  Preterists believe that much Biblical prophecy has already been fulfilled, chiefly in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.  Obviously some prophecy was fulfilled in AD 70 (eg. Dan 9:26-7; Matt 24:1-2), and I do not fall out with Preterists, so long as they believe in a future return of Christ.  Hyper-preterists, however, deny this and claim that our Lord returned invisibly in AD 70 and is not coming again.

The Rejection and the Judgement of God- Part 2.

Before we start, may I ask you, the reader, to inspect the chair or settee that you are sitting on?  Now, what would your reaction be if I told you to make your chair relevant?  I’m sure you would tell me that it already is relevant;  it is relevant to your posture and comfort.  If it wasn’t there you would be sitting on the floor.  There are people today telling us that we must somehow make the Bible relevant.  My reply is that this is quite impossible for the very good reason that it is already relevant.  As we consider Isaiah 5, I trust that we shall find that it is as up-to-date and relevant as tomorrow’s newspapers.  Indeed, like the rest of the Old Testament, it was actually written for our benefit (Rom 15:4).  Although its message is 1,500 years old, its first recipients were people very much like us.  They didn’t have microwave ovens, I-pads or solar panels, but their most urgent needs were very much like our own.  People don’t change.  They were sinners in Isaiah’s day and they are sinners now.  They needed God’s grace then and they need it now.  Isaiah’s message spoke to them in their sin and estrangement from God, and it speaks the same message to us today.

This article makes bleak and uncomfortable reading.  I make no apology for that.  If ever there was a time and a place that folk needed to hear God’s convicting voice, it is in Britain today.

Please read Isaiah 5.

Isaiah 5 has a very simple structure.  The first seven verses are the Song of the Vineyard- God’s complaint against His people.  In the central portion, verses 8-25, God gets specific, pronouncing six woes upon six particular sins.  Finally, in verses 26-30, we read of God’s righteous judgement upon His rebellious people.

 v1.  ‘Now let me sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard:  my Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.’

The chapter starts like a love song or a marriage song.  It tells the story of a man and his vineyard.  He chose a hill with the best soil.  He prepared the soil carefully and selected only the finest vines (v2); he also protected it by both a hedge and a wall (v5).  Having done all that, he was so confident of a good vintage that he built a permanent shelter (‘tower’) so that he could come and watch his beautiful vines growing.  He built a wine vat (not a wine press as in most Bibles) to store the grapes when they were harvested, and then he sat back and waited for his bumper crop of delicious grapes.  Instead he got a crop of sour, inedible grapes, or as the Hebrew eloquently puts it, stinkfruit.

Now Isaiah speaks in the person of his Beloved, and invites the opinion of the Israelites.  What more could He have done for His vineyard?  There is no fault in the husbandman; everything that could have been done to secure a good vintage has been done.  No blame can be attached to the Owner; the blame must lie elsewhere.

According to Ezekiel 15, a vine is either good for fruit or it’s good for nothing.  There’s nothing else you can do with it.  Its wood cannot be used for boat-building or furniture-making; there’s nothing else you can do with it but grow grapes.  Therefore the fruitfulness and the security of the vineyard hang together.   If it had brought forth good fruit, it would have been cherished and protected, but in the event,  ‘And now please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard:  I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned or dug, but there shall come up briars and thorns.  I will also command the clouds that they rain no more on it’ (vs5-6).  It puts one in mind of our Lord’s parable in Luke 13:6ff.  “Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none.  Cut it down!  Why does it use up the ground?”   

Then Isaiah drops his bombshell.  The vineyard represents Israel.  God had given the Israelites everything they needed to become the holy nation that He had designed them to be- their own land, the Law, kings and prophets to guide them, and He told them,   “Thus you shall…….tell the house of Israel:  ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.  Now therefore if you will obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me, above all people…….and you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’” (Exod 19:3-6).  Yet right from the time that the Israelites left Egypt, they had been in rebellion against God (Psalm 106:13ff).   ‘He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; for righteousness, but behold, a cry for help’ (v7).   The longsuffering of God had borne with Israel for year after year, but by the time of Isaiah, His patience was running out, and He exclaimed, “How the faithful city has become a harlot!” (Isaiah 1:21).  Judgement was drawing near.

Now if we look upon all this as just a piece of history, then we shall utterly miss the point.  The Old Testament is written especially for us, for our guidance (Rom 15:4).Surely it cannot be too hard to compare the Israel of Isaiah’s time with the Britain of today?  Can we not look at this land and see that God has blessed it for us with a temperate climate, fertile soil, abundant natural resources?  He has given us His word, the Bible, a Reformed Church, raised up for us great men of God throughout the centuries.  Yet now He has looked for the good fruit of righteousness and found instead the ‘stinkfruit’ of immorality, abortion godlessness.  Maybe He is saying even now,  “I will take away its hedge and it shall be burned; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.  I will lay it waste….”  No nation has ever been better treated by God than mine.  But now, how is she any better than Sodom or Gomorrah?

From verse 8, God moves from the general to the particular.  He pronounces six woes upon six sins of Israel:  materialism, self-indulgence, rebellion, perversion of equity, fleshly wisdom and injustice.  If we cannot see the parallel with Britain today, we must be blind indeed.

v8. ‘Woe to those who join house to house; they add field to field, until there is no place, where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land!’

The first woe (vs 8-10) is upon rampant materialism- those who set themselves to make money at all costs.  In Isaiah’s day there was not stock market, no internet, so wealth came through owning land and its production.  “Woe to you,” Says Isaiah, “Who grasp the land and houses of My people and rob them of their heritage.”  The land of Israel was regarded as belonging to God and was therefore not to be sold permanently but had to be returned to the original possessors at the Day of Jubilee (Lev 25:23-24).  That is why Naboth reacted so strongly to King Ahab’s offer to buy his vineyard.  “The LORD forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!” (1Kings 21:3).  So how shall be apply this to ourselves?  Woe to you who build business empires by paying starvation wages or by forcing your smaller competitors out of business.  Woe to you who buy holiday homes at inflated prices and then leave them empty ten months of the year, destroying the life of the village where you bought them.   Woe to you who seek wealth for its own sake rather than for the good you may do with it.   We might think of the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:16-21), or of Paul’s words to Timothy:  ‘Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy’  (1Tim 6:17).  And riches are uncertain .  Isaiah foretold a blight on property and farm prices (vs 9-10); the Lord is giving us the modern day equivalent- a depression i n trade, banking and currencies.  How much for relevant for our times is it possible to be?

Vs 11-12.  ‘Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may follow intoxicating drink; who continue until night, until wine inflames them!  The harp, the strings, the tambourine and flute, and wine are in their feasts; but they do not regard the work of the LORD, nor consider the operation of His hands.’

The second woe is on the self-indulgent.  Woe to you who party day and night and never give a thought to your Creator.  Woe to you falling down drunk outside the night-clubs on a Friday night.  Nothing in their world but the next drink, the next snort of cocaine or whatever.  Now I do not think it is possible to show that the Bible prohibits alcohol completely; nor does it condemn parties and celebrations.  Christians should be a happy and joyful people.  It is the devil who spreads  the myth that God’s people, ‘Scorn delights and live laborious days’ (1).  But the Bible does have a great deal to say about drunkenness.  The Christian shouldn’t have to get half-sloshed in order to have a good time.  Alcohol suppresses the higher functions of the brain and makes one suggestible to all sorts of undesirable temptations.  No wonder the Holy Spirit warns us , ‘Be sober (2), be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour’ (1Peter 5:8. cf. also Prov. 20:1; 23:29-35).  The moral dangers of alcoholism and drug abuse go hand in hand with the health hazards, as verse 14 tells us.  I am writing this just a few days after it has been revealed that cases of sclerosis have risen five-fold in the last twenty years or so.   Illnesses associated with drink or drugs, along with those related to sexual promiscuity are no respecters of person;.  Isaiah speaks of the ‘nobles’ and the ‘masses’ (v13, NIV).  Rich and poor, great and small, they must all face the God whom they have so blithely disregarded (vs 15-16).

‘The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power

And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave

Await alike the inevitable hour;

The paths of glory lead but to the grave.’  (Thomas Grey)

But those who are Christ’s (v17); those who are faithful to their spouses and moderate in their habits, need have no fear, for they are safe from both the temporal and eternal consequences of such behaviour, and one day they shall inherit the earth that the wicked have so abused (Matt 5:5).

vs 18-19.  ‘Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as if with a cart rope; who say, “Let Him make speed and hasten His work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come that we may know it.”’

The third woe is open rebellion.  It is to those who deliberately sin with a high hand.  They have not accidently fallen into sin; they are actively and purposefully engaged in sin, dragging it along, as it were, with cart ropes, ‘worthless cords.’  These are the folk who scoff at “Victorian morality,” by which they mean the Ten Commandments of God.  They imagine that they are free, but in fact they are like beasts of burden, tied to their sins with cart ropes dragging them along behind them with  ‘worthless cords.’   Contrary to their beliefs, they are slaves of sin.  ‘Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey,  you are that one’s  slaves whom you obey, whether of sin, leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness.?’ (Rom 6:16).  All the fashionable talk of being ‘captain of my soul’ or doing things ‘my way,’ is so much whistling in the dark.  Bob Dylan had it right when he wrote what is really nothing else but a commentary on that very verse,

You might be a rock ‘n’ roll addict prancing on the stage,
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage,
You may be a business man or some high degree thief,
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

But these people are brazen in their sin, daring God to punish them (v19). ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes’ (Rom 3:18).  Because God does not strike them down the very moment they sin, they suppose that He will never do so.  They are fools, of course.  The Apostle Peter tells us that, ‘The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgement’ (2 Peter 2:9).  The crowd in Jerusalem when our Lord was crucified had no fear of God.  “His blood be upon us and upon our children,” They cried (Matt 27:25). And of course, judgement did indeed come upon them, not at once, but in AD 70, more terribly than they could possibly have imagined.

Vs. 20-21.  ‘Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!’ 

The next woe is upon the perversion of morality.  It is for those who absolutely invert God’s principles of right and wrong.   We might think of Roy Jenkins, the famous English politician of the 1960s and ‘70s, who declared, “The permissive society is the civilized society.”  We might think of the disgusting  ‘Gay Pride’ marches in so many of our cities; we might think of the State-sponsored sex education lessons in which 13 and 14 year-old girls are told that they can decide when they’re old enough to have sex, and that it’s their right to have an abortion.  Right alongside this is the woe on those who think you can make up your own morality as you go along.  “If it feels good, do it!” “Well, what I think is this…..”  “Just be happy….”  “Just as long as you don’t hurt anyone else…..”  What madness!  As if you can sin in a vacuum!  What a bitter harvest- what ‘stinkfruit’- these philosophies have brought us!   Broken families, feral children, drug addiction, alcoholism, riots in the streets, prisons full to bursting,  A.I.D.S and other S.T.D.s becoming endemic and 200,000 unborn children killed by abortion each year.  ‘And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;  being filled with all unrighteousness……who knowing the righteous judgement of God that those who practise such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practise them’ (Rom 1:28-29, 32.  Read the verses in between).

Vs. 22-23.  ‘Woe to men mighty at drinking wine; woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away justice from the righteous man!’

The final woe is upon rulers.  The translations do not really bring out the irony of the original.  Verse 22 might read,

‘Woe to those who are mighty- at drinking wine!

Woe to those who are heroes- at mixing drinks!’

This woe applies when those who are responsible for guiding the Nation not only fail to set a proper example but actually set a bad one.  King Solomon declared, ‘Woe to you, O Land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning’  (Eccl 10:16).  It doesn’t take much imagination to apply this to our own land in recent years.  We might think of ‘cash for honours,’ ‘cash for questions,’ parties on millionaires’ yachts, the fiddling of M.P.’s expenses and so forth, all while the nation was sinking into moral and economic disaster.   It’s all there; the bitter ‘stinkfruit’ that comes when a people and its leaders have turned away from God.

Verses 24 and 25 both begin, ‘Therefore…’   One thing leads to another.  Sin inevitably brings judgement.  ‘Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness and their blossom will ascend as dust;  because they have rejected the law of the LORD of Hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the anger of the LORD is aroused against His people;  He has stretched out His hand against them and stricken them.’ 

We can see for ourselves the judgement that has come upon our land:  increasing violence, the hopelessness of economic depression and unemployment, and a war that drags on interminably without any sign of victory.  Yet there is a threat of worse to come.  ‘For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still’ (v25c).  Verses 26-30 refer to the coming invasion by the Babylonians, still a long way in the future when Isaiah wrote.  I often think of Jeremiah 5:6;  ‘A leopard will watch over their cities.’   To me, it speaks of the threat of terrorism; no one knows where they may strike next and pierce the thin veneer of peace and civilization.  God is not the author of evil, but  in the face of rebellion and apostasy  He does remove His hand of protection.  ‘I will take away its hedge and it shall be burned; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down’ (v5).

Some readers may be saying, “I don’t like this sort of preaching.  Surely God is a God of love?  I can’t believe that He would ever stretch out His hand in judgement.”  I answer,  you can’t dine a la carte on the Bible.  You can’t pick the doctrines you feel comfy with and discard the rest.  If you reject the doctrine of the wrath and judgement of God, the whole Biblical doctrine of salvation goes with it.  Unless you understand the holiness of God and His hatred of sin, the death of Christ has no meaning.  ‘….Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus’ (Rom 3:25-26).  God cannot simply overlook sin; His justice does not allow it.  But at the cross He has condemned sin in Jesus Christ, and at the same time provided pardon for those who put their trust in His blood.   

  ‘’Til on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied-

For every sin on Him was laid;

Here in the death of Christ I live.’

‘There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Rom 8:1).  Christ has fulfilled the broken law on behalf of His people.  He has made the law honourable by obeying it in full, and He has satisfied God’s justice by paying its penalty in full.

So the question is, are you, the reader, trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ today for the forgiveness of your sin?  If so, nothing ultimately can harm you.  You have passed from death to life.  Just as Noah and his family were safe inside the ark, so you are safe from the floods of God’s righteous anger against the world and its sin.  ‘Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves, as it were, for a little moment until the indignation is passed.  For behold, the LORD comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the world for their iniquity’ (Isaiah 26:20f).

But if not, if you have never seen yourself as a sinner against God, and have never fled to Christ for safety, don’t let another day go by before you do.  ‘Behold the Judge is standing at the door!’ (James 5:9).  Go to Him now, and put your faith in Him and His shed blood which alone can save you.  He can wash you whiter than snow.  He can give you a robe of righteousness to cover all your sin.

‘Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness

Mu beauty are, my glorious dress.

’Midst flaming worlds in these arrayed,

With joy shall I lift up my head.’

And what about us who are Christians today?  What can we do to stem the flood of wickedness in the land?  For there are two kinds of judgement that come from God.  There are remedial judgements, designed to bring us to repentance, but if these are ignored, then a final judgement will eventually follow.   We may feel that there is nothing we can do, and cry out with the Psalmist, ‘When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?’  We also need to repent.  We need to repent for the sin of our land, and for our own weakness and coldness of heart.  ‘“Now therefore,” says the LORD, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”  So rend your heart and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.  Who knows if He will turn and relent?’ (Joel 2:12-14).

There have been times like this before.  Early in the 18^th Century was a time of drunkenness, depravity, crime and breakdown of family life, not too different from today.  Yet then God answered the prayers of His people, and the Great Awakening followed with tens of thousands turning to Christ.  ‘Then the LORD will be zealous for His land, and pity His people’ (Joel 2:18).  If we, His people, will pray and repent and respect His commandments, may we not see revival in our time?  Let us be the watchmen on the walls of this land (Isaiah 62:6), and give Him no rest until He turns and blesses Britain once again.  Let us also set an example in our conduct to those outside the church (1 Peter 3:15-16) and reach out to them with the Good News of Jesus Christ (Phil 2:15-16).

This Christmas will be for some of my readers the most difficult and worrying they have ever experienced.  The threat of joblessness and poverty hangs over many families, there is the menace of increasing violence within our cities, whilst at the same time the Christian faith is become less and less tolerated by various sections of society.  This is quite apart from the equally dismal news from abroad, whether the financial crisis in Europe or the increasingly alarming events in the Arab world.

This Christmas I would like to encourage my readers to take heart.  If we are Christians then we have read to the end of the book and we know who wins.  Our Lord told us, “In the world you will have tribulation;  but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).  However things may look, God is in charge of His creation and He will bring it to the consummation tht He has planned.  Not the incompetence of economists, nor the foolisheness of politicians, nor the wickedness of the devil can prevent it. 

God rest you, merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay;

Remember Christ our Saviour was born upon this day,

To save us all from Satan’s power when we had gone astray.

Glad tidings of comfort and joy!

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24008273-holy-bankrollers.do

 [In giving this link, I should add thatI am by no means a supporter of the Alpha Course.  I regard it as a very poor introduction to the Christian faith.  However, the Puritans used to say that God can draw a straight line with a bent stick, and there's no doubt that some people have come to faith through Alpha.  Nevertheless, I much prefer Christianity Explored (1) as an introduction to Christianity] 

Note.

1. http://www.christianityexplored.org/

I was privileged to attend the FIEC (1) Leaders Conference and AGM last week at the Hayes Centre in Derbyshire.  This was my second attendance there and once again it was a blessed event.

This year we filled the place.  There were 400 church leaders there, representing more than 150 churches.   Those who have attended similar events will know how blessed it is to enjoy fellowship with a large number of like-minded Christians.  The singing was a joy, and the ministry of Johnny Prime, Pastor of Enfield Evangelical Church was inspirational.  He gave three talks from Hebrews with the general text of Heb 2:1:  ‘Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.’  John Stevens, the FIEC National Director, gave three excellent talks from 1Timothy, though the last one did degenerate a little into a plea for more money.  However, we should not be ashamed to talk about finance in connection with Christian mission.  The Apostle Paul wasn’t, and maybe the world would be a better place if there was more preaching on 1Timothy 6:17-19.

The most controversial part of the meeting came at the AGM when two new statements were agreed expanding and amplifying the Fellowship’s position on women in ministry and on ecumenism.  In 1922, when the FIEC was formed, women did not enter the Christian ministry.  Today, it is felt necessary to spell out what is seen as the Biblical position.  Churches within the FIEC do not have women Pastors or elders (1Tim 2:12; 3:2), though women may be deacons (Rom 16:1; 1Tim 2:11) and are encouraged to minister to other women (Titus 2:3-5) and to the children.

On ecumenism, the present position was amplified and further explained.  FIEC churches desire fellowship with all other churches that hold to the basics of the faith, but there is no unity outside the Gospel, and specifically, FIEC churches do not become members of the Churches Together organization.  However, the FIEC holds to ‘one-stage’ separation, not ‘two-stage’ and we will have fellowship with individual Bible-believing churches who may themselves be members of C.T.

These two positions were affirmed by overwhelming majorities.  They were controversial only inasmuch as the unity of the FIEC is a fellowship and not a denomination, and there were those who felt that these two statements constitute direction from the centre and were expanding the unity of the Fellowship from a Gospel-based unity to a doctrinal one.  Regrettably, there may be one or two resignations from the Fellowship over these issues, but without them the FIEC would have lost credibility with other conservative bodies such as Reform and the Grace Baptists.

The leadership has exciting plans to encourage and support church planting in areas where there is no Gospel witness, and for the training of young potential Pastors.  This will mean asking the churches to give significantly more, but I believe that for Gospel purposes we should not be afraid to give generously and sacrificially (Acts 4:36-7). 

Note.

1. Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches for the uninitiated.  www.fiec.org.uk

1Timothy 6:17-18. ‘Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us all things richly to enjoy.  Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share.’

2Timothy 4:2.  ‘Preach the word!  Be ready in season and out of season.  Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.’

The stand-off between the anti-capitalist protestors and the authorities at St. Paul’s Cathedral could almost be funny if it weren’t so tragic.  I am writing following the resignation of the Dean and the abandonment of legal proceedings to make the demonstrators leave.  The folk at the Cathedral seem to have no idea what to do about the happy campers outside their doors and no idea what to say to them.    They would rather like them to go away, but at the same time they want to appear to be on the same side politically as they are.  The one thing they seem to be quite unable to do is to preach Christ to them. 

The problem is that there seem to have been precious few people at St. Paul’s who actually know what the Gospel is.  Typical is Giles Fraser, until recently Canon Chancellor (whatever that is) of the Cathedral.  I cannot claim to have heard Mr Fraser’s preaching personally, but here is the view of the ‘Archbishop Cranmer’ blog (1) 

‘….This is the man who massacres Scripture; despises the ‘ego’ of heterosexual weddings while lauding gay marriage; berates conservative Anglicans as ‘homophobes’ and ‘extremists’; equates ‘Islamophobia’ with racism; does not believe in the immortality of the soul; rejects the salvific notion that Jesus was sacrificed for our sin…  His Grace could go on (and on).’

The authorities at St. Paul’s seem to have been horrified at the presence of real people asking real questions outside their premises.  In all the interviews that I have heard, the Gospel has never been mentioned, at least, not by the clergymen.  The nearest approach to it has been the banner held up by the protestors asking, ‘What would Jesus do?’ 

Well what we know He wouldn’t do is lead any sort of political movement (Luke 4:5-8; John 6:15).  However, that has not stopped the folks down at St. Paul’s suddenly seeking to identify themselves with the aims of the protestors.  In fact the good old Archdruid of Canterbury himself has now entered the fray.  He has just nothing to say about the Gospel and precious little about the Lord Jesus Christ, but he knows exactly how the economy ought to be run.  What we need, according to Rowan Williams, is a ‘Robin Hood’ tax upon all financial transactions.

My qualifications as an economist are, I think, identical to those of the Archdruid- zero.  So I shall not comment upon his ideas about tax.  But is that really what the man was placed in office to do- to pontificate about financial matters?  Is he not there to point the Nation to repentance and to trust in Christ?  ‘If they [false prophets] had stood in My counsel, and caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings’ (Jer 23:22).

So what should the folk at St. Paul’s be telling the protestors?  Well, they could tell them that if they took every banker in the land, confiscated all their money and then shot them, it would not mend one broken marriage; it would not sober up one drunk; it would not rescue one drug addict; it would not save one unborn child from death by abortion or help one teenage delinquent.  In fact it wouldn’t even help the poor.  Surely we know enough history to realise that revolutions do nothing to help the disadvantaged?  The French, Russian and Chinese revolutions did nothing but replace one bunch of sinners with another in the corridors of power and one form of inequality with another.   The revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya will do just the same.   For the ordinary people they will make very little difference at all; for Christians living in those lands, things are likely to get significantly worse.

So what would Jesus do?  He would preach the Gospel.  That’s what the bankers need, what the protestors need, and what the clergy at St. Paul’s need.  ‘It is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes’ (Rom 1:16).  It is the power that will cause a banker to cry out,  ‘Look, Lord, I give half my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold’ (Luke 19:8).  As a matter of fact, there has been a work of God’s grace among some wealthy folk in the City.  The Metropolitan Tabernacle, St. Helens, Bishopsgate and other evangelical churches are preaching the Gospel to such people and lives are being changed.  My little church has been able to do some renovations on its premises by means of a grant from a group of Christian City businessmen converted by lunchtime Gospel preaching at St. Helens.  There is much more going on.  It’s a shame that we don’t hear more about it. 

The protestors also need the Gospel.  I can tell the Bishop of London exactly how to get them off his front door.  First, get the Gideons to go round the tents handing out Scriptures; then get the Open Air Mission to conduct a marathon Gospel preaching session outside the Cathedral doors; finally, get some Gospel choirs to belt out some good old hymns at full volume, twenty-four hours a day.  If that doesn’t get rid of them, perhaps it will convert them.   Then maybe they will get of their backsides and help the London City Mission as it performs its wonderful work to help the truly disadvantaged in our Capital (2). 

Finally, the people at St. Pauls’s, and the Archdruid himself need the Gospel just as much.  They need it because their condemnation will be the greater without it (Matt 23:13; James 3:1); and they need it so that they can go out and preach it to the glory of God.  Politics is never going to change the nation.  Only the glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ can do that.

Notes.

1. http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/  For the full quotation with the relevant links, go to http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2011/10/canon-giles-fraser-accuses-his-critics.html

2. http://www.lcm.org.uk/

Psalm 146:3.  ‘Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.’

Get down on your knees and pray…..you won’t get fooled again.’  The Who

Martin Marprelate’s regular readers will recall that at the last British General Election, he announced that he had no confidence in David Cameron as Prime Minister (1).  His distrust was not in economic matters, where Martin thinks that it can normally be assumed that the Conservatives will be more sensible than the other parties, or at least, no more feckless.  His distrust was in matters of morality.  Despite the ghastly economic mess that Britain is in at present, there is no doubt in Martin’s mind that our most serious problems are not economic nor political, but moral.

Anyone who questions this should look back to the summer and the riots that took place in several of our cities.  It seems to have taken only a few texts or ‘tweets’ for a horde of human locusts to descend upon our streets and carry off anything they could find.  The draconian sentences imposed upon offenders seem to have quietened down the situation and no doubt some of those involved will have second thoughts about doing the same again, but has that really solved the problem?  Who can doubt that there is an increasing disregard for property rights in the country?  Other aspects of Britain’s moral life are equally worrying.  Just about half of all children born today are illegitimate.  Drunkenness is endemic, drug-taking is rife, and sexually-transmitted diseases are apparently ubiquitous.  Worst of all, no one seems to be the least bit ashamed of all this.  ‘They do not know how to blush’

In Jeremiah 5:1, God invites the prophet to wander about Jerusalem to see if he can find even one person who acts righteously.  Allowing for a bit of poetic licence, are things any better today?  How many doors would you have to knock upon in most British cities before you could find an evangelical Christian?  Though up to 70% of the population declares itself to be Christian in some way, according to recent surveys, you would be hard-pressed to find any indication of their faith in their actions.  ‘Though they say, “As the LORD lives,” surely they swear falsely’ (Jer 5:2).

In verses 4-5, God decides to speak to the leaders and elders of Jerusalem.  Surely they will know something of God’s righteous standards?  But no, they ‘Have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.’  They are, if anything, worse than the ordinary people in their flagrant disregard of God’s righteous laws.  Is this not exactly what we have seen here in recent days?  The banks, the politicians, the Press and the police have all been accused of being involved in financial or ethical shenanigans of one sort and another.  Add in the scandal of the paedophile Roman Catholic priests and it seems as if every pillar of society has been found suffering from moral concrete cancer.  So if the Good and the Great are seen to be filling their beaks at every opportunity, is it so surprising if ordinary people take the opportunity to indulge in a spot of looting and pillage when the chance presents itself, since they have no opportunity to indulge in the more ‘genteel’ activities of embezzlement, bribery and financial irregularity?  As the poet Chaucer wrote seven hundred years ago, “If gold shall rust, what shall iron do?”  If the very people who are entrusted with the nation’s financial, political, legal and moral care are found to be stuffing themselves full at the people’s expense, why should anyone be shocked if ordinary folk seize their chance to do likewise?

The same principle arises in the moral sphere as in the financial- indeed, the two run together to some degree.  It is the banker or politician who is running a mistress or two who finds that he cannot live on his salary but must fiddle his expenses or bonus to keep his lifestyle going.   It is known perfectly well that stable marriage is the bedrock of society for a variety of reasons.  Children, especially boys, need to be brought up by a mother and a father.  If a young man is brought before the law for crimes of violence or vandalism, the odds are about six to one that he comes from a broken home or has been brought up without the presence of his natural father.  Cohabiting couples stay together on average less than half as long as married couples.  Family headed by single mothers are far more likely to be in poverty than those where the father is present.  Children are far more likely to be abused by step-fathers than by their natural fathers.  These facts are too well-documented to brook any argument.  

Yet we see no real effort from the Government to address these troubling statistics.   Sex education has been placed to a large degree in the hands of the F.P.A. and the Brook organization who provide many of the materials used in the lessons.  These businesses, along with Marie Stopes International, have charitable status, but you are most unlikely to have seen anyone rattling a tin outside a supermarket on their behalf.  They do not appear to raise money from the public; rather,  they get their money mostly from the State, either by advising on the killing of unborn children in huge numbers or by providing material for sex education lessons.  They have a policy in their lessons of never mentioning the word ‘marriage.’  Apparently this is so as not to upset children whose parents are unmarried.  This is a strange policy.  Do we not encourage obese children to diet because their parents might be fat?  Do we not warn youngsters about the perils of drug abuse in case Mummy and Daddy might be smack-heads?  The fact of the matter is that sex education lessons are pretty much value-free.  Children are told in these lessons to start having sex ‘when you are ready.’  In other words they are left to make up their own minds about when and with whom to have sex and this approach has left us with the most appalling legacy of teenage pregnancy, venereal disease and of course, abortion, providing the F.P.A., Brooke and Marie Stopes with plenty of customers for its other service.

Of course, homosexuality is promoted in these lessons as absolutely normal (2), despite the fact that  homosexual intercourse remains by far the primary cause of AIDS infection.  It is also a leading cause of hepatitis and various other distressing  conditions. A recent article in Pink News has even linked it to dysentery.  Until 1997, homosexuality could not be promoted in schools, and the doubling of AIDS infection rates since then shows the effect of the change.

Now, of course, we have the present Government ‘consulting’ (3) on bringing in homosexual ‘marriage’ as being fully equal with that between a man and a woman.  I have placed the word marriage in inverted commas in the last sentence because I do not accept that people of the same sex can be married.  I think it was Tweedle-Dum who said (4) “When I say a word it means exactly what I want it to mean,” and this seems to be the view of the Prime Minister.  But since the beginning of time, in just about every society on earth, there has been some form of marriage, and that marriage has been the union between a man and a woman.  So it is signified in the very first book of both Old and New Testaments;  (Gen 2:24; Matt 19:4-5).  According to the 1662 Anglican Prayer Book, the primary reason for the institution of marriage is, ‘For the procreation of children, to be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord,’ and this understanding is supported by the Bible (Mal 2:15).   Whatever may be said about homosexual relationships, the fact is that they are inevitably sterile.  What breath-taking arrogance for politicians to imagine that they are wiser than God!

Before proceeding, I feel I must warn readers against becoming obsessed with the issue of homosexuality.  It is true that God describes it as an ‘abomination’ (Lev 18:22), but so He speaks of pride, lying, violence against the innocent, wicked scheming, the sowing of discord  (Prov 6:16ff), dishonest dealing (Prov 11:1) and scoffing about the things of God (Prov 24:9) and several other things which men regard as being praiseworthy (Luke 16:15).  To make homosexuality into a uniquely wicked sin is not supportable from Scripture.  

So what can we Christians do about it all?  Well, we live in a democracy, unlike the First-Century Christians; we have rights and we ought to make use of them.  I would certainly encourage my readers to lobby their M.P.s on these topics.  Make an appointment to see yours personally.  It will at least impress him with your earnestness.  There are also various Christian organizations that lobby and comment on behalf of Christians as well as keeping them informed:  The Christian Institute, Christian Concern, Christian Watch and Christian Voice. They are all evangelical (5) to some degree, and each one has a different approach.   Let the reader take his pick and support one of them.  Write to the newspapers and quote the Bible at them.  I say this not because I have any faith whatsoever in either politicians or the press, but because we should be witnessing to the nation and to its leaders that its deeds are evil.   Let the truth of God’s word be proclaimed in the newspapers, local and national..  Isaiah was sent to witness to the evil king Ahaz (Isaiah 7:3ff) and Jeremiah had a message for the wicked sons of Josiah (Jer 22:11ff).  We therefore should not be afraid to proclaim God’s word to rulers as well as to the common people.

I would also like to encourage my readers to pray for our nation.  It must be right to confess the sins of ourselves and the people, and to beseech the Lord to spare our land from judgement.   In this respect, see Ezra’s prayer for Israel in Ezra 9.  Yet my mind is increasingly being taken to the book of Jeremiah (6).  There the time for national repentance has passed, and all that remains is judgement.  God told the prophet,  ‘Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me, for I will not hear you’ (Jer 7:16).  Could it be that Britain has finally sinned itself out of God’s love and care and that God has given us over to retribution  (Rom 1:18ff)?  I do not know, but if there had been ten righteous men in Sodom, it would have been spared destruction.   It must surely be right therefore, until such time as God clearly shows that He has given the country over, to continue to pray fervently for this poor benighted land.   I have written previously about my longing for the Bible-believing churches in the land to come together for times of prayer and repentance (7).  Maybe it is still not too late for us to beseech God to turn from His anger against Britain and come again to bless the land.  Joel 2 is the chapter to read about this.  Who knows if the Lord will not even now come down in power on Britain, to turn us away from the lies of humanism back towards the truth;  to restore to us the years that the locusts have eaten- the years of secularism and immorality- and leave a blessing behind Him?

Finally, we need to be busy with our evangelism.  There are people in this land who are growing weary of their worldliness, and they can be encouraged to come to church to hear the Gospel.  This is what we are finding in my church; it must be equally true in others.  If every Bible-believing church reached out to just two couples or families each year, and by God’s grace they were converted, that would be thousands saved each year.  We are bidden not to despise the day of small things (Zech 4:10), and God has promised to ‘Take one from a city and two from a family and bring them to Zion’ (Jer 3:14).   When Paul was discouraged by the opposition that he faced in Corinth, the Lord encouraged him, saying, “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you or hurt you; for I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:9-10).  Is it not possible that God has many people in your city, town or village, and that God in His mercy is going to use you and me to reach them?

Notes.

(1) http://marprelate.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/why-martin-marprelate-wont-be-voting-conservative/

(2)  The question of what is ‘normal’ and what isn’t is an interesting one.  My definition is that a normal activity is one in which it would make no difference if everybody did it.  Obviously, if everyone in the world was homosexual, the human race would die out within a hundred years.

(3)  David Cameron has made it clear that he is not consulting on whether homosexual marriage should be introduced, but how it should be done.  

(4) In Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

(5) The Christian Institute seems to me to be the closest to having a Reformed understanding of Scripture.

(6) See my article on Jeremiah 13.  http://marprelate.wordpress.com/2010/05/22/the-wine-of-gods-wrath

(7) See my articles on 2Chron 7:13-14, starting with http://marprelate.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/looking-to-god-for-revival-1/

A few weeks ago I attended the Autumn Conference of the Protestant Reformation Society at Wycliffe hall, Oxford.  I must confess never to have heard of the organization before, but having received an invitation from my friend, George Ella, who was speaking there, and believing with all my heart in the need for a new Reformation of the Protestant churches  along Biblical lines, I was happy to attend.  I would normally have looked up the society’s website on the internet, but it transpires that it doesn’t have one.

The society’s express purposes are the conservation of the conservative evangelical wing of the Church of England, along with the use of the Authorised Version of the Bible and the 1662 Prayer Book.  It was these last two aims that made me think of the preservation of an endangered species like the Red Squirrel or the Giant Panda.  There are few rarer animals in the world than the Giant Panda, yet it has no known predators as far as I know.  Its threatened extinction comes from three causes:  the loss of its habitat, its highly restricted diet and its reluctance to mate.

The same problems seem to threaten the survival of the P.R.S.   There are very few Anglican churches indeed that still use the A.V., and the use of the Prayer Book seems mostly to be restricted to the Anglo-Catholic wing of the C. of E.  Successful Anglican evangelical churches have taken enthusiastically to the NIV and are quite cavalier in their use of liturgy, using whatever modernized stuff may come out and adapting it as they see fit.  As a non-conformist, Martin Marprelate can see no problem with that.  In the 1980s, a few Anglican churchmen left the established church and set up the Church of England (Continuing).   Its first bishop (now retired), Dr. David Samuel, is the current President of P.R.S.   Alas, the breakaway organization boats only four churches, each dedicated to the A.V. and the 1662 Prayer Book.  It does not seem likely to me that either the P.R.S. or the ‘continuing’ church are likely to attract younger members.  At the age of nearly 60, Martin Marprelate was not quite, but almost, the youngest person attending the conference.

The first paper given at the conference was from Rev. Dr. E. Culbertson of Armagh cathedral.  He spoke on the early translations of the Bible, from Caedmon and Bede leading up to the Geneva Bible.  This was a most edifying paper, particularly in its discussion of the Anglo-Saxon translations.  There seems to have been a genuine desire among the pre-Conquest Britons to have the Scriptures in their own tongue.  Perhaps it was the advent of the Normans in 1066 that put the whole business off until Wycliffe in the late 14^th Century.

The second paper was given by George Ella on the Hampton Court Conference (where the decision was taken for a new Bible translation) and on the translation teams that worked on the A.V.  Part of Dr. Ella’s talk was a robust defence of James I and his role at the Conference.  Having been brought up with a view of James as ‘The wisest fool in Christendom,’ it was something of a revelation to learn that James was a firm Protestant who mediated wisely between the Anglicans and Puritans and who faithfully supported Protestant forces during the Thirty Years War.  Dr. Ella has studied this era very deeply and is of the view that the Church of England was at its height in term of doctrine and practice under James.  Martin Marprelate is not sure how much of a compliment this is, but at all events, credit must go to him for supporting and bringing to pass the Authorized Version of the Bible.

The third talk was on the Textus Receptus, the Greek Text underlying the A.V.  It was given by Michael Harley, pastor of Frinton Baptist Church.  It was nice to see another non-Conformist there.  Pastor Harley’s talk focussed on the  doubtful quality of the codices underlying the Critical Text, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, on the essential agreement of the vast majority of extant manuscripts on the Byzantine text-type and on the preservation of God’s word as it has come down to us.   All this was music to my ears.  It cannot be right to reject up to 900 Greek manuscripts in favour of just four or five, admittedly older, codices.  Nor can it be right to use secular criteria to judge the word of God.  I did a little textual criticism when studying Classics at University.  It was normally assumed that, when faced with three or four widely differing manuscripts, the oldest might be supposed to be the most accurate since it was likely to have been copied fewer times.  This might work with some of the Latin or Greek authors where only a tiny number of manuscripts remain, but it is ridiculous to apply the principles when faced with literally hundreds of manuscripts all pointing in the opposite direction.  It was also supposed that, when faced with two differing manuscripts, the one with the most foolish or contradictory text was most likely to be the correct one since it was most unlikely that a copier had corrected it.  This concept might conceivably be justifiable in a secular work like the poems of Sappho or Catullus, but surely we cannot tolerate it for a moment in the word of God (1)?

The fourth talk bore the title, Archaic or Accurate?  The language and supposed difficulties of the A.V.  It was given by Dr. R. T. Beckwith, Chairman of the P.R.S. Executive Committee.  This was to me the most surprising, important and satisfying of the various talks.  Dr. Beckwith suggested  that the A.V. was both accurate and archaic.  There is no doubt that the translators of the A.V. were most eminent scholars who worked carefully and piously to make a translation that was as accurate as possible.  However, Dr. Beckwith gave a long list of archaic words used in the A.V., some of which, like ‘let’ (2Thes 2:7), now mean the exact opposite of the meaning they had in the 17^th Century.  My own favourite comes from Psalm 5:6; ‘Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing.’  At first glance, this sounds like bad news for Hire Purchase salesmen, and it is quite hard to establish the meaning of ‘lease’ unless one looks at a modern translation, which is really cheating.  It is no use looking it up in the Oxford Concise Dictionary; you won’t find the meaning there.  You have to go to one of those massive thesauruses used by  English Literature graduates to discover that it means ‘lie’ or ‘deceit.’ 

Dr. Beckwith went on to suggest that if the A.V. is going to survive, it will need to be updated.  His plan is to keep the old personal pronouns, Thou and Ye, but to upgrade other obsolete words.  He will also need to correct certain faulty translations that arose because the translators, through no fault of their own, were not acquainted with advances in scholarship which have come about over the years.  Most prominent among these is the Granville Sharpe Rule which states that when two nouns are united by a single article, they refer to the same thing or person.  This is important in two (2) verses which should witness to the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Titus 2:13, A.V.  Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.’

Titus 2:13, N.K.J.V.  ‘Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ’ (other modern versions are similar).

2Peter 1:1b, A.V.  ‘…..To them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.’

2Peter 1:1b, N.I.V.  ‘….To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ’ (other modern versions are similar).

The only modern translation that supports the A.V. in these two texts is the New World Translation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses!  Just in case it might be thought that the A.V. is right in these instances, let the reader look at 2Peter 1:11.  Here the A.V. rightly translates, ‘….our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’  Yet the Greek construction here is exactly the same as in 1:1.   Granville Sharpe was a member of the so-called Clapham Sect and a friend and colleague of William Wilberforce.  He published his rule and the end of the 18^th Century, almost a hundred years after the publication of the A.V.

The question also has to be asked whether a modernization of the A.V. will be acceptable if Thee , Thou and Ye are retained.  What about the words which go with these pronouns, the Hasts and the Wilts and the Wouldests and so forth?  Are these to be kept?  And if so, would the result really be likely to restore the fortunes of the A.V.?  There is an argument, and a strong one, that modern translations are unclear in verses like Luke 22:31-32 and John 3:7 because the Second Person pronoun You does not distinguish between singular and plural.   However, there is no need to retain the archaic pronouns for that reason.  It would be quite possible, for example, to space the You,       ‘y o u’ when it translates the plural.  This is the method used by William Hendricksen in his famous New Testament Commentaries.

Despite these criticisms, I was glad to hear that there are those in the A.V. camp who are prepared to accept some sort of revision.  Without it, there is no doubt that this great Version of the Bible will disappear, as the Giant Panda is in such danger of doing, as fewer and fewer people find it comprehensible, and the churches that use it wither and die.  Those of us who believe that the traditional text  of the Bible is more likely to be the original are longing to see a revised A.V. in something approaching modern language, which would eliminate the various shortcomings of the NKJV and be available through a Christian publisher.  I can think of no body more suited to undertake this work than the Trinitarian Bible Society.   I’m not holding my breath, however.

I also hope that the Protestant Reformation Society survives and prospers.  These are dear people with a real love for the Lord, and while I cannot share their enthusiasm for the liturgy of the 1662 Prayer Book, I do believe that all true Christians should draw closer together in order to battle the relentless march of godlessness in our land and to witness to its only hope, our Lord Jesus Christ.  I am looking forward to the society’s next meeting (3)(4).

2Timothy 1:12.  ‘For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that day.’

2 Timothy holds a special place in the hearts of believers because it appears to be the last letter written by the Apostle Paul.  The Book of Acts ends with Paul under house arrest.  That was when he wrote his letters to the Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, and also to Philemon.  It appears that after about two years, he was freed from prison and set out on his missionary travels again.  He almost certainly went to Spain, and according to one ancient writer, he even visited Britain.  It was during this period of freedom that he wrote his first letter to Timothy and the one to Titus.  But eventually he was arrested again and thrown into prison and this time there was no release.  According to church tradition, Paul was beheaded in Rome in 66 or 67AD, during the persecutions of Nero.

So 2 Timothy was written, as it were, on Death Row;  Paul’s last will and testimony, if you like.  His purpose is to give final instructions to his young colleague, Timothy, and even more, to encourage him, firing and firming him up for the ministry:  ‘Stir up the gift of God that is in you….’ (v6);  ‘Don’t be ashamed…..’ (v8).  You see, Paul can imagine Timothy getting into a panic;  “Oh no!  Paul’s in prison again; everything’s gone wrong!  How are we going to manage without Paul?”  Now is there not some application for us straightaway?  Do we not get depressed as we see our country sliding further and further away from God, and churches that used to be so sound sliding into liberalism and apostasy?  Do we not sometimes think, “What is God doing?  How can He allow things like this to go on?”  Perhaps we cry out with the Psalmist, ‘Help Lord, for the godly man ceases!  For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men!’  But really, if we read our Bibles, and 2Timothy in particular, we shouldn’t be surprised at what’s going on.  ‘But know this, in the last days perilous times will come’ (3:1).  ‘For the time will come when [men] will not endure sound doctrine’ (4:3).  The point is that things like these are ordained to happen so it’s no use being surprised at them.

Paul’s word to Timothy is to stand firm and not to be sucked into the downgrade which was going on in doctrine and behaviour.  Notice how he separates Timothy (and hopefully us as Christians) from the rest of the world.  The world may be going to hell on a handcart, ‘But you have carefully followed my Doctrine’ (3:10)  Have we?  ‘But you must continue in the things you have learned’ (3:14).  Do we?  ‘But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry’ (4:5).  Will we?  Because, ‘…I am being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand’ (4:6).  “My time is over,” says Paul.  “It’s up to you now.

So that’s the background to 2Timothy.  I want now to concentrate on one verse which seems to me to sum up Paul’s life and hope.  The verse is 1:12, written out above, and I want to divide it up into four headings:  Paul’s circumstances, his boast, his knowledge, his hope.

1. Paul’s Circumstances.  Paul starts off by saying, ‘For this reason I suffer these things.’  These things are obviously his imprisonment, his impending execution and all the associated sufferings.  So why is he suffering?  Look at verse 11:  ‘…..The gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.’  He is suffering because of his appointment.  God appointed him to be a minister of the Gospel, and with that appointment came the call to suffer.  Look at 2:3, where Paul tells Timothy, ‘You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.’  And it’s not just church leaders who have to face hardship.  ‘Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution’ (3:12).  That very thing is happening today in China, Laos, Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and North Korea.  More than 100,000 Christians were martyred last year, and if it’s not happening here yet, maybe it will soon enough.  Problems and suffering come with the territory.  ‘Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you’ (1Peter 4:12).  It is a wicked teaching that says that Christians have a right to be rich, healthy and trouble-free all their lives and if they’re not, then they ought to have more faith.  No!  There is a cost to be paid in following Christ.  “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself  and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matt 16:24).

Now it is possible to get into trouble by being objectionable to people, and sometimes Christians get persecuted through their own silly faults, by being sanctimonious or holier-than-thou.  But Paul’s situation was not one that he had brought upon himself.  God had appointed him to the path he took and the suffering was part of the territory.

2.  Paul’s Boast.  So Paul can say, ‘Nevertheless, I am not ashamed.’  Now this is a figure of speech called a litotes.  It is where someone employs a negative to indicate a positive.  So if someone says, “I’m not unhappy with the situation,” what he means is that he’s jolly pleased with it; or if you were to say that you live in, “Not a small house,” people immediately start imagining a mansion.  So when Paul says, “I am not ashamed of my sufferings,” what he means is, “I glory in them!”  Look at 1Peter 4:16:  ‘Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.’  If Paul were in prison through his own silly fault, he might well have been ashamed, but he had been appointed by God to his place of suffering, and like his Master, he was ready to drink the cup that God had prepared.  Phil 1:29 tells us that to Christians, ‘It has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.’  The word translated ‘granted’ is charizo, from which the word ‘charismatic comes, so suffering might be regarded as a spiritual gift;  not the one that most people eagerly seek, butsuffering nobly borne has the power to bring others to the Lord (Mark 15:39).

3. Paul’s Knowledge.  But Paul might have been ashamed in another way.  He might have thought, “I’ve been working so hard for God and look what it’s got me- punishment, poverty and prison!   His faith might have failed him at the point of crisis, and he might have become ashamed of God.  What is it that keeps a man like Paul steadfast in his faith when another might easily fall into despair?  Paul tells us:  ‘For I know whom I have believed.’  Now this is surely one of the greatest statements in the Bible, and it spells out the difference between Christianity and all other religions and cults.  I want to look at it first from the negative point of view and see what Paul is not saying before we look at the positive angle.

The first thing Paul doesn’t say is. “I know what I have believed.”  He does not say, “I have studied the Bible and acquired a knowledge of theology.”  There’s nothing wrong with that, of course.  Indeed, it’s a very good thing; but a Moslem, a Buddhist or a Sikh can say that, if he has studied the relevant texts of his particular religion.  But Paul says, “I know whom I have believed,”  A Moslem a Buddhist or a Sikh cannot say that because you can’t know a dead person and Mohammed, Buddha and Guru Nanak are dead.  But the Lord Jesus Christ is alive- risen from the dead; that’s why Peter tells us that we have a ‘Living hope’ (1Peter 1:3).  We haven’t put our trust in dead people and their teachings.  The One we trust is alive and reigning in heaven at this very moment and He has sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within His people and to reveal Christ to them (John 16:7, 14).

The second thing Paul doesn’t say is, “I know about whom I have believed.”  Again, it’s not a question of studying the Gospel academically so that you know all about the life of Christ in the same way as you might read the biography of , say, Winston Churchill or Karl Marx and go on Mastermind and answer questions on Him.  Now of course we need to read the Gospels and the whole Bible- read a little every day.  You can’t really say that you know somebody if you don’t know anything about him.  You need to seek God, and seek the Lord Jesus Christ through the word.  You must seek them spiritually, prayerfully, humbly, constantly and when you seek in that way, you will find (Deut 4:29; Matt 7:7-11; Heb 11:6).

Consider 2 Chron 15.  The prophet Azariah told king Asa, “The LORD is with you while you are with Him.  If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.”  We read that on hearing this, Asa, ‘Removed all the abominable idols from all the land,’ and called the whole nation together.  ‘Then they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul……..And all Judah rejoiced at the oath for they had sworn with all their heart and sought Him with all their soul; and He was found by them, and the LORD gave them rest all around’ (vs 2, 8, 12, 14-15).  When you seek the Lord earnestly, through prayer, through the word, you will know, as Paul knew, the reality of Christ, His living presence, through the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within you.   ‘For you…… received the Spirit of adaption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God, and if children then heirs- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ’ (Rom 8:15-17).  The Holy Spirit reveals to us that we are God’s children, and causes us to cry out to God as Father.  Now Moslems have 99 names for God, but none of them is ‘Father’ because they don’t know Him as Father.  They can’t because they don’t have the Spirit.   Jehovah’s Witnesses are the same; they don’t know God as Father because they don’t know Jesus as Lord and they don’t have the Spirit either.  Paul knew God as Father; he knew Jesus Christ as Lord, Saviour and Friend, not through deeds but through faith because he had sought them in prayer and in the word and had found them according to the promise of Deut 4:29;   ‘You will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.’  Yet that seeking was all of God who had set His love upon Paul before the foundation of the world and had drawn him to Him with lovingkindness (Jer 31:3; John 6:44).

4.  Paul’s Hope.  Paul declares, “I  am persuaded…..’   This is another figure of speech:  an anacoluthon or understatement.  He doesn’t mean, “After due consideration, I have come to this opinion,”  he means, “I am jolly well certain!”  He means that the Lord has come into his heart by the Spirit and overruled his doubts and his fears.  He is saying with Job, “Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him.”   He means, “I am certain, because I know God.”

So what is he certain about?  He is certain that God is able.  He believes in the Sovereignty of God; that God is almighty, all-powerful and that however things may look, He is in charge of His creation and will work everything for His glory in the Lord Jesus Christ.  What a wonderful, comforting doctrine this is!  That nothing can happen to us outside of the control of God.  Let sickness come, let poverty, sadness, bereavement, death itself; we can face them steadily if we are persuaded that they come from the hands of a loving God.  Why?  Because, in the words of Rom 8:28, ‘We know that all things….’ -even the things I’ve just mentioned- ‘Work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.’  It is God who works them together, and He has promised to wipe every tear from our eyes, if not in this world then certainly in the next (Isaiah 25:8; Matt 5:4; Rev 7:17).

Paul goes on, ‘….He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him.’  We commit our lives to Jesus Christ in service, and we commit our immortal souls to Him for safe-keeping, and He will never let us fall.  He may allow us to slip occasionally, to bring down our pride or to cause us to lkean upon Him all the more, but the true Christian will never sin himself out of God’s love for he is one of Christ’s sheep.  ‘My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand’ (John 10:27-28).

Finally, ‘….Until that day.’  There is a day coming when God will have had His fill of all the sin and wickedness in the world.  On that day, God will call the living and the dead to judgement, to account for every thought and word and deed committed throughout history.  What a terrible day that will be!  ‘And the kings of the earth, the great men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the wrath of Him who sits upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!  For the great day of His wrath has come and who will be able to stand?”’ (Rev 6:15-17).  Who will stand when all things are being shaken?  Only the one who has   trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and committed His life to the Lord for safe-keeping.  ‘For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame”’ (Rom 9:11).