Jottings

by J. Miller | Category: Jottings | May 1962

In the present state of life it is well for the Christian to know what is possible and what is impossible. The Greek word atomos, which is only once used in the New Testament, meant, of old, something "that cannot be cut, indivisible," and was used of" an atom or indivisible particle of matter." The word is used in 1 Corinthians 15. 52, where it is rendered "moment". It is there applied to the instantaneous change in the bodily condition of saints at the coming of the Lord.

We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," whether we be alive at the time, or whether we be of the dead in Christ. The moment of time when this vast work of the Lord takes place in the bodily change of His saints will be so infinitesimal as to be indivisible.

But in the advance of scientific knowledge in the last few decades, that which was from ancient times thought to be impossible, the splitting of the atom, has been done, and, as a result, man has been able to see and to use the mighty power within an atom. Thus man's vision has been extended beyond the horizon of former times. That which was once impossible has now become possible.

Within the realm of things divine, however, some things remain and must remain impossible to men. The Lord, speaking of rich men, said that it was hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, and that it was easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples were astonished at this, and asked, "Who then can be saved ?" The Lord replied, "With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible" (Matthew i9. 28-26). Earlier the Lord had said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5.8). How well the Lord knew that men would cling to present riches, and seek to forget the riches in the world to come! It is possible for God so to work with a rich man that he will be able through divine grace to esteem present wealth as nothing compared with the unsearchable riches of Christ and the wealth of the world to come, and so bow to God's will and find a place in His kingdom.

We are told, in Hebrews ii. 0, that "without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto Him (God)." The R.V. uses the words "well-pleasing," whereas the A.V. says that "without faith it is impossible to please God." The R.V., in using the words "well-pleasing," cannot mean that we can "please" God without faith, but we cannot be "well-pleasing" to Him without faith. The fact is that the unbeliever cannot please God at all in any sense. If men would please God, they must believe that He is and what He says. To disbelieve God with reference to what He has said about His Son is to make Him a liar (1 John 5.10), a most serious thing to do, but, alas, myriads are guilty of this great sin. Men who disbelieve God concerning His Son presume to talk of what they call "good works," as though they arc capable of doing good, whereas it is impossible for them to do any good towards God at all (Romans 3.10-12).

We have in the epistle to the Hebrews some of the most precious truths relative to the person of the Lord Jesus, and to God's people who are found together forming His house, but at the same time we have some of the most serious warnings to that people to be found in the epistles, relative to falling away. That section of chapters 3 to 6 deals with this matter of falling away, and Paul takes up the numbered men of the twelve tribes as illustrating what he says. The sin which these men committed at Kadesh-barnea was sin unto death; they were all sentenced to die in the wilderness and never to enter the land of promise. In chapter 6.4-6 we have a similar sentence passed on such as fell away in the apostle's time. We quote the passage in full:

"For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame."

Those persons were not unsaved people as the various statements about them show, in particular they were made partakers of the Holy Spirit. But they fell away from the living God (Hebrews 3.12). Let us hear and fear.

The words of 1 John 5.10, 17, have often been the subject of enquiry by those who continually and diligently read the Holy Scriptures. The words are these:

"If any man see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and God will give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: not concerning this do I say that he should make request. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death."

Thus in these words it is shown that whilst all unrighteousness is sin, all sin is not of the same heinous character in God's sight. On some sins the sentence of death is passed by God and those who commit them will know no repentance unto life.

First in the list of such sins and sinners are Adam and Eve who, by their sin, launched the whole race which sprang from them into a state of sin. We know practically nothing of our first parents after their banishment from the garden of Eden and the birth of Cain, Abel and Seth. Whether they repented and found mercy with God we cannot say, but one thing seems certain that their place in the garden of Eden was never theirs again, and the garden without anyone to tend and keep it would, no doubt, fall into dilapidation like all the earth besides, that it would henceforth bring forth thorns and thistles.

Cain comes next in the list of sinners for whom there was no repentance. He wilfully and willingly listened to another voice than the voice of God, even that of the evil one. People become of the evil one by listening to his voice, and those who hearken to God become such as are of God. The haunting wail of Cain as God passed the sentence of the curse upon him is calculated to strike terror into the heart.

"My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the ground; and from Thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that whosoever findeth me shall slay me." (Genesis 4.18, 14).

God put a mark on Cain that man should not deal with him for his crime, but that He Himself would deal with him in due time. But Cain would never again see the face of God in mercy.

The sin of Esau in selling the priceless birthright which he possessed was an act which could never be reversed. For a mere mess of red pottage he sold that which never again could be his nor could it ever pass to his descendants. He had committed an act, the effect of which his seed would suffer, and not only so, but they would be embittered against the descendants of Jacob, the man who bought the birthright. The blessing was Jacob's too, for the birthright and the first-born's blessing went together. Hebrews 12. 10, 17, puts the matter of the birthright and the blessing in correct perspective.

Esau was a common man, not a spiritual man, and had committed an act which could not be revoked. His path from that day of the selling of the birthright led him further and further from God and his descendants followed his steps. God's verdict was

"I loved Jacob; but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness" (Malachi 1. 2-4).

See also Isaiah 34 as to the end of Esau's descendants and the desolate state of the land of Edom during the millennium; it shall lie waste from generation to generation. Esau's was sin unto death.

We pass over the sin of the fighting men of Israel at Kadesh-barnea, when they turned back in heart into Egypt and God sentenced that whole generation to death in the wilderness. Not one of them entered the promised land. Only the two faithful spies Joshua and Caleb entered the land with the younger generation which had arisen to take the place of their fathers.

We think last of all, in this brief review, of Saul the king of Israel. He had the outward appearance of a man fit to be king and to lead Israel from victory to victory, for he was head and shoulders above the men of Israel. But the principle on which God works in His choice of men for His work was clearly stated to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16. 6, 7.

The LORD'S sentence on Saul (1 Samuel is. 11) was irrevocable; Saul's sin was unto death.

J. Miller | May 1962
Jottings