Helpers of your joy. (2)

by Charles H. Welch

“I will be with thee” 

The Lord has promised that He will neither leave nor forsake, His own, and in his double promise of His presence we rejoice. The words“not leave” and “not forsake”, however, are negatives, and so we will turn to a positive declaration: 

“He shall call upon Me, and I will answer Him: I will be with him in trouble (Psa. 91:15) 

There is no promise in Scripture that the believer will be exempt from trouble, but what is promised is that he need never be alone in his trouble. The Lord has said: “I will be with him in trouble”. The saint may pass through fire and water, but the Lord will be with him and sanctify to him his deepest distress: 

“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee” (Isa. 43:2). 

Joseph passed through a long period of trial and testing, yet in the midst of it all the Scriptures reveal the hidden source of his joy. First of all he was sold by his brethren into Egypt. At this the iron entered into his soul: 

“Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron (Psa. 105:18). 

Or, as the margin says, “His soul came into iron”. It must surely have been a bitter experience for the beloved son of Israel to be sold as a slave, and sold by his very brethren: yet one blessing, at least was his, the Lord was with him: 

“Potphar…bought him…and the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man” (Gen. 39:1,2) 

or, as Whycliffe’s quaint version puts it, “He was a lucky fellow”. 

But Joseph suffered yet deeper humiliation. He was falsely condemned and put into prison, a position not conducive to joy or peace, which often produces resentment and rebellion: 

“Joseph’s master…put him into the prison…but the Lord was with Joseph…and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper” (Gen. 39:20-23). 

We are too apt to gauge our prosperity by our possessions or our standing in society, but these words reveal that truth prosperity is independent of circumstances: imprisonment my go hand in hand with prosperity, the deciding factor being the presence or absence of the Lord. The three men who were cast into the fiery furnace at the command of Nebuchadnezzar were certainly in an extremely perilous position, yet of them it could be written that upon their body the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their heads singed: 

“Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?”

Asked the king, and he continued: 

“Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt: and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God” (Dan.3:24,25). 

Caleb, who wholly followed the Lord, knew the power of this blessed fellowship. At the division of the land under Joshua, Caleb came forward and reminded Joshua of what the Lord had said concerning both himself and Joshua forty-five years earlier: 

“Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fences: if so be the Lord will be with me, then shall I be able to drive them out, as the Lord said…Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb” (Josh 14:12-14). 

Caleb’s one qualification was: “if so be the Lord will be with me”. That being granted, success was certain. The name of the place inherited by Caleb we Kirjath-arba and was named after Arba, a great man among the Anakims. The name was changed to Hebron, a word that means fellowship, and therefore enshrines the very thought of the gracious presence that Caleb so desired. 

In His presence is fullness of joy, and that presence includes the promised: “I will not leave you”, “I will not forsake you”, and “I will be with you”. Thus does the conscious enjoyment of the presence of the Lord minister to our joy. 

“The joy of Thy salvation” 

Despite the pressure of circumstances, the depressing effect of ill-health, the corrosion of care, and the anxieties that pertain to this life, the fact that God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son, should lighten our everyday experience with joy. 

The wise men from the east exemplify this. They had traveled far in search of the One that had been born King of the Jews, and, “when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy” (Matt.2:10). Notice how the inspired narrative emphasizes their joy. It is not enough to say that “they were glad” or that “they rejoiced”. They not only rejoiced, they rejoiced with joy and, more than that, with exceeding joy, yeah, exceeding great joy. And all this because the star at length stood over Bethlehem. What therefore ought to be our state of mind and heart who know not only the grace of Bethlehem, but the glory of Calvary, the triumph of the resurrection, and that ascension far above all! 

Before the wise men found cause for rejoicing, the promise even of the forerunner of Christ was associated with joy. To Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, the angel said: “And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth” (Luke 1:14). 

When Christ was born, not only did men rejoice, but angels too, were moved to say, “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy” (Luke 2:10). 

The gospel is not only glad tidings of great joy that heralded the Saviour’s birth, but an ever-living power unto salvation, and this, too, should lead us to rejoice. The Lord assures us that “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:10). In spite of darkness of the present day, sinners are still repenting, and joy is still experienced in heaven. Shall we not also share this joy? Shall we not find a ground of rejoicing in every trophy of grace? 

The report that God has opened a door of faith in any district should, if we are in the right spirit, fill us with joy: 

“They passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren” (Acts 15:3). 

Paul and Barnabas were on their way to Jerusalem to battle for the faith. They might have caused a great deal of harm had they discussed this matter with the churches in Phenice and Samaria. They chose the better path, and left great joy behind them. 

Let us be unselfish in this matter of joy and will be flow like a river.

“The joy set before” 

Writing to the church at Thessalonians the Apostle says that he gives thanks and prays unceasingly concerning their work of faith, labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father, and then proceeds to tell them that he knew that they were the elect of God: “Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God” (1 Thess.1:4). 

While Paul has been the recipient of an abundance of revelations, and had received the stewardship of the mysteries of God, and had been caught away to paradise, there to hear unspeakable words, there is nowhere any suggestion that Paul or any many could ever look into the Book of Life, or that any man ever received from God private information concerning His elective purposes. Yet Paul knew that the Thessalonian saints were elect of God. He knew it by their fruits. 

We may on some occasion have walked through an orchard. We may have admired and sampled some of its luscious fruits. Throughout the whole of our exploration of that orchard we should probably have not seen one single root, yet we should “know” that the invisible roots were there and functioning properly by reason of the visible fruit. So Paul saw the fruits of faith: 

“For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye become followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much afflictions, with joy of the Holy Ghost” (1 Thess.1:5,6). 

The place that joy occupies here is only seen in true perspective as we view it in juxtaposition with the “much affliction”. This is a spiritual joy, the fruit of the Spirit, and therefore in no wise dependent upon external circumstances. The reception of the gospel in its saving power, though accompanied by afflictions without, was accompanied by joy within, a joy that no man takes away.

In like manner, the Hebrew saints: “took joyfully the spoiling of their goods” (Heb.10:34). Unless there be some compensating element, no person takes joyfully the spoiling of his goods, and these Hebrew believers were not abnormal; they no more liked to see their poverty ruined than we should, but their joy was an anticipation of future glory: 

“Knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance (Heb.10:34). 

This is the spirit of the Lord Himself: 

“Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb.12:2). 

Thus all present joy is an anticipation of those pleasures which are for evermore at God’s right hand. To live looking for that blessed hope will minister to our joy even though goods are spoiled and afflictions suffered. 

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(From The Berean Expositor, vol. 47, page 96).

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Time and Place. (7)

The Scriptural association of chronology and topography to 
doctrine and purpose. - by Charles H. Welch

#7. The First Registry of Births and Deaths (Gen. v. - vii. 6). 

Once more, we leave the question of “place” and return to the element of “time”. 

“This is the book of the generations of Adam” (Gen. v. 1). A serious writer has recently put forward the idea that the fourteen generations of Genesis, refer not to what follows, but to what goes before. Thus, Gen. ii. 4 refers to the first chapter of Genesis, and speaks of the “origin” of heaven and earth, and so throughout the book. 

While an appeal to Matt. i. 1 most certainly shows that, there not the “descendants”, but the ancestry of Jesus Christ constitute His “generations”, an examination of the usage of toledoth, “generations”, in the O.T. makes the idea of ancestry impossible in every case. The only meaning that fits all cases is “family history”, the context alone deciding whether the look is backward or forward. 

“The generations of Pharez.” 

These are found in the book of Ruth, but one looks in vain for any of the ancestors of Pharez: what is given is a list of his descendants, from his son Hezron to David. 

An example where “family history” better fits the case is found in I Chron. xxvi., in verse 31 of which chapter the expression “according to the generations of his fathers” obviously looks backward. Two “books of generation” are found in Scripture. The first relates to Adam, the second to Christ, and between the two is to be found the chronology of the Scriptures. After the birth of Christ, chronology ceases, and all attempts to construct a chronology of the N.T. fail because the necessary facts are wanting. 

Anstey, in his work “The Romance of Bible Chronology”, says:--

“In a conversation with a friend, the present writer, in claiming authenticity for the chronological records of the early chapter of Genesis, was met by the objection ‘At any rate there were no Registrars of Births and Deaths in those days’, to which we replied, ‘That is just exactly what the fifth chapter of Genesis is’. It might have been copied from the fly-leaf of an old patriarchal family Bible, or genealogical family chart. The family records that are preserved in these days are little else but records of births, marriages and deaths, but they go back farther than any other records in the family chart. Moses was the literary executor of Joseph, and the custodian of the heirlooms of antiquity preserved by the chosen race.” 

The chronology that extends from Adam to Noah is simplicity itself, but in later Scriptures we meet increasing complication. It may be good for us to construct our own chronology, collecting the material from the record of the Scriptures themselves. We shall soon find that we must not assume that the son named in the genealogy is always the firstborn, or that where the firstborn is included, he is always mentioned first. Seth was born after Cain and Abel, and, though mentioned first, Shem was not the eldest (Gen. x. 21). While there is a most careful catalogue of births and deaths in the line of Adam to Noah in Gen. v. no such genealogy is given of the line of Cain (Gen. iv.). Some have objected to the length of life attributed to Adam and the Patriarchs, but if we tamper with the 930 years of Adam’s life, and reduce it to so many “months”, what shall we do with the statement in the same book that Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh? After all, it is more reasonable to believe that, in the beginning, disease was less rampant than in later times, and the climate not so changeable as it became after the Flood. 

It will be noticed that Moses does not give the “date” of the birth or death of each individual, neither day nor month being included, but reckons by complete years. This principle must be remembered when using the chronology. 

“Methuselah is said to have been 969 years at his death (Gen. v. 27), but actually it will be discovered that he was 968 years, 1 month and 17 days old, plus whatever fraction of the year of his birth was included in the 65th year of his father Enoch, when the flood began” (Anstey). 

“Since Ussher, no chronologer who has adopted the numbers given in the Hebrew text as the basis of his calculation, has ever failed to fix the flood in the year AN. HOM. 1656, and the death of Joseph in the year AN. HOM. 2369” (Anstey). 

The chronology of the Antediluvian Patriarchs. 

Anno Hominis. 

 0     Adam created (Gen. v. 1). 

 130 Age of Adam at birth of Seth (Gen. v. 3). 

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 130 Seth born. 

 105 Add age of Seth at birth of Enos (Gen. v. 6). 

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 235 Enos born. 

 90  Add age of Enos at birth of Cainan (Gen. v. 9). 

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 325 Cainan born. 

 70   Add age of Cainan at birth of Mahalaleel (Gen. v. 12). 

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 395 Mahalaleel born. 

 65  Add age of Mahalaleel at birth of Jared (Gen. v. 15). 

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 460 Jared born. 

 162 Add age of Jared at birth of Enoch (Gen. v. 18). 

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 622 Enoch born. 

 65  Add age of Enoch at birth of Methuselah (Gen. v. 21). 

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 687 Methuselah born. 

 187 Add age of Methuselah at birth of Lamech (Gen. v. 25). 

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 874 Lamech born. 

 182 Add age of Lamech at birth of Noah (Gen. v. 28)

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 1056 Noah born. 

 600  Add age of Noah at the Flood (Gen. vii. 6). 

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 1656 The Flood. 

Here is the most venerable family document in the world, the family history of the ancestors of all mankind. To remove it from the book is to leave mankind without a record of its beginning, and more serious still, to snap the link that binds Adam, the first head of the race, to Christ, the true Head and Saviour of mankind. 

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(From The Berean Expositor, vol. 34, page 181).

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Acknowledgment. (4) - by Charles H. Welch

#4. Acknowledgment, the spirit of 
wisdom and revelation (Eph. i. 17, 18). 

The first fourteen verses of the epistle to the Ephesians contain a revelation of the distinctive truth of the Mystery, as entrusted to the Apostle Paul in his capacity of the prisoner of Jesus Christ for us Gentiles. In this opening revelation the Apostle makes known some unique features of this dispensation. Its blessings are “spiritual”; its sphere “heavenly places”; its association with the age-purpose, “before the overthrow of the world”; its pre-eminence in this exalted sphere indicated by the word elsewhere translated “adoption”, and its hope is said to be “prior”. At verse fifteen, the Apostle ceases to add further teaching, and turns to prayer. If epignosis meant simply piling knowledge upon knowledge, the Apostle could have gone on, regardless of the moral and spiritual response or lack of response of these Ephesian saints, but at verse seventeen he prays: 

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him . . . . . that ye may know what is the hope of His calling . . . . .” (Eph. i. 17, 18). 

The margin of the A.V. reads for the acknowledgment in place of in the knowledge. The preposition en occurs more than one hundred and twenty times in Ephesians and is translated “in”, “by”, “with”, “through” and “at”; it is only translated “for” in iv. 32, where it is translated “for Christ’s sake”, an exceedingly free rendering and which the R.V. renders “in Christ”. 

Accepting, as we have in this series, the translation of epignosis as “acknowledgment” or “recognition”, we still have to ponder the Spirit’s meaning. Does the apostle mean that the gift of a spirit of wisdom and revelation leads to and enables “acknowledgment”. That is, shall we accept the A.V. marginal reading “for the acknowledgment”? or, while returning the new rendering of the word epignosis, shall we leave unaltered the preposition en and read “in the acknowledgment”? Should anyone ask what difference such a rendering would indicate, we reply that in the first translation the spirit of wisdom and revelation leads to acknowledgment, whereas in the second the spirit of wisdom and revelation is found in the acknowledgment, and will not be granted, where acknowledgment is withheld. This is a serious difference, and we believe that the second translation expresses the truth. How is it that we have to say of one and another believer: “He did run well, he appeared to be quite convinced, both of the general application of the principle of right division, and of the particular application to the present dispensation of the mystery—yet, somehow, he seems to have drawn back, his testimony is silenced. If he preaches or speaks in public, it is painfully evident to those who know the truth that he is not emulating the apostle, who, by manifestation of the truth, commended himself to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” 

If we have personal acquaintance with any of these brethren we soon become convinced that it is not lack of “knowledge” that hinders. They may have ability to read the Word in the original tongue, they may be level-headed and able to follow an intelligent proposition. In fact, we feel that some have seen all too clearly the logical conclusions of standing by such unpopular teaching as that which is associated with the testimony of the Lord’s prisoner. In such circumstances growth ceases. 

If, after we have received a knowledge of the truth; if, after the eyes of our hearts have been enlightened; if, after that, we would receive “a spirit of wisdom and revelation” so that we may “see” (eideo) what is the hope of His calling, that spirit must be received “in the acknowledgment of Him”. The eyes of our heart may be enlightened, but we may not “see” for all that. Prejudice, fear of man, a too careful pondering of consequences, all these may have a blinding effect, or if not blinding, a dimming and distorting influence. We may still “see”, but see “men as trees walking”.

When we hear and read some of the things that are advanced under the aegis of Paul the prisoner, we cannot help but feel that such must be the explanation. Let us take this message to heart. Let us “acknowledge” the truth that we have seen. Let us not hide it out of fear, or dissimulate because of advantage. The clear perception as to what is the hope of our calling is largely associated with this acknowledgment, and where there is no acknowledgment a blessed foretaste of the glory of our inheritance must be forfeited. A realization of the source of all power to usward who believe will never be obtained where there is not frank and full acknowledgment. 

If in the fulfillment of our stewardship, The Berean Expositor had made no statement about the Lord’s Supper; if it had not made a clean cut at Acts xxviii.; if it had included the hope of I Thess. iv. in the doctrine of the mystery; if it could have retained the ecclesiastical position of the first epistle to the Corinthians, while holding to the teaching of Ephesians; if it could blend the New Covenant with the Mystery, it might have “prospered” as the world or Christendom counts prosperity. Its readers might have been multiplied, our spiritual pride fed, our creature comforts increased, but how poor in all essentials we should have been! If this witness is comparatively “unknown” yet the Lord acknowledges it. If we are comparatively “poor” we have proof that we have “made many rich”, and if in the eyes of the world we “have nothing”, yet, with the eyes of our heart enlightened, we are conscious that we “possess all things”. 

May every reader, together with the writer and his colleagues, be numbered among that blessed company who thus “acknowledge Him”. 

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(From The Berean Expositor, vol. 36, page 15).

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