The Unconquerable Life
"In Him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness apprehended it not." John 1:4, 5 R.V. The marginal rendering, "overcame," gives us the exact meaning of the text and conveys a message of great comfort to the believer. Let us see what it is.
Christ is the light of the world. See John 8:12. But His light is His life, as the text quoted states. He says, "I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life." The whole world was in the darkness of sin. This darkness was due to lack of knowledge of God as the apostle Paul says that the Gentiles are "darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardening of their heart." Eph. 4:18, R.V.
Satan, the ruler of the darkness of this world, had done his utmost to deceive men as to the true character of God. He had made the world believe that God was like men--cruel, vindictive and passionate. Even the Jews, the people whom God had chosen to be the bearers of His light to the world, had departed from God and while professedly separate from the heathen, were enveloped in heathen darkness. Then Christ came, and "The people which sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, to them did light spring up." Matt. 4:16, R.V. His name was Emanuel, God with us. "God was in Christ." God refuted the falsehoods of Satan, not by loud arguments, but simply by living His life among men so that all might see it. He demonstrated the power of the life of God and the possibility of its being manifested in men.
The life which Christ lived was untainted by sin. Satan exerted all his powerful arts, yet he could not affect that spotless life. Its light always shone with unwavering brilliancy. Because Satan could not produce the least shadow of sin in the life, he could not bring it within his power, that of the grave. No one could take Christ's life from Him; He voluntarily laid it down. And for the same reason, when He had laid it down, Satan could not prevent Him from taking it up again. Said He, "I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." John 10:17, 18. To the same intent are the words of the apostle Peter concerning CHRIST: "Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that He should be holden of it." Acts 2:24. Thus was demonstrated the right of the Lord Jesus Christ to be made a high priest "after the power of an endless life." Heb. 7:16.
This endless, spotless life Christ gives to all who believe on Him. "As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." John 17:2, 3. Christ dwells in the hearts of all those who believe on Him. "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me." Gal. 2:20. See also Eph. 3:16, 17.
Christ, the Light of the world, dwelling in the hearts of His followers, constitutes them the light of the world. Their light comes not from themselves but from Christ, who dwells in them. Their life is not from themselves, but it is the life of Christ manifest in their mortal flesh. See 2 Cor. 4:11. This is what it is to live "a Christian life."
The living light comes from God in a never-failing stream. The psalmist exclaims: "For with thee is the foundation of life; in thy light shall we see light." Ps. 36:9. "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." Rev. 22:1. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." Rev. 22:17.
"Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:53, 54. This life of Christ we eat and drink by feasting upon his word, for He added, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." Verse 63. Christ dwells in His inspired word, and through it we get His life. This life is given freely to all who will receive it, as we read above; and again we read that Jesus stood and cried, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." John 7:37.
This life is the Christian's light, and it is that which makes him a light to others. It is his life; and the blessed comfort to him is that no matter how great the darkness through which he has to pass, no darkness has power to put out that light. That light of life is his as long as he exercises faith, and the darkness cannot affect it. Let all, therefore, who profess the name of the Lord have the confidence that can say, "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me." Micah 7:8. By EJ Waggoner
Creationist or Evolutionist, Part 1
We are going cover the subject of evolution. First of all, I will read to you what evolution is; then as we follow along, you can see whether or not you are an evolutionist. These statements are all copied from a treatise on evolution, written by one of the chief evolutionists; therefore, they are all correct, so far as they go, as definitions. “Evolution is the theory that represents the course of the world as a gradual transition from the indeterminate, from the uniform to the varied, and which assumes the cause of these processes to be imminent in the world itself that is to be thus transformed.” “Evolution is thus almost synonymous withprogress. It is a transition from the lower to the higher, from the worse to the better. Thus progress points to an increased value in existence, as judged by our feelings.”
Now notice the particular points in these three sentences: evolution represents the course of the world as a gradual transition from the lower to the higher, from the worse to the better, and assumes that the process is imminent in the world itself thus to be transformed. That is to say, the thing gets better of itself; and that which causes it to get better is itself. And this progress marks “an increased value in existence, as judged by our feelings.” That is to say, you know you are better, because you feel better. You know there has been progress, because you feel it. Your feelings regulate your standing. Your knowledge of your feelings regulates your progress from worse to better.
Now in this matter of progress from the worse to the better, have your feelings anything to do with it? If they have, what are you? Anyone who measures his progress, the value of his experience, by his feelings, is an evolutionist, with a form of Godliness but denying the power. Now I read what evolution is, in another way; so that you can see that it is infidelity. Then, if you find yourself an evolutionist, you know at once that you are an infidel. “The hypothesis of evolution aims to answer a number of questions respecting the beginning, or genesis, of things.”
It “helps to restore the ancient sentiment toward nature as our parent and the source of our life.”
One of the branches of this sort of science, that has come most toward the establishment of the doctrine of evolution, is the new science of geology, which has instituted the concept of vast and unimaginable periods of time in the past history of our globe. These vast and unimaginable periods, as another one of the chief writers on this subject – the author of it indeed – says, “is the indispensable basis for understanding man’s origin” in the process of evolution. So that the progress that has been made has been through countless ages. Yet
this progress has not been steady and straight forward from its inception until its present condition. It has been through many ups and downs. There have been many times of great beauty and symmetry; then there would come a cataclysm or an eruption and all would go to pieces, as it were. Again the progress would start from that condition of things and build up again. Many, many times this process has been gone through, and that is the process of evolution-the transition from the lower to a higher, from the worse to the better.
Now what has been the process of your progress from the worse to the better? Has it been through “many ups and downs?” Has your acquiring of the power to do good-the good works which are of God-been through a long process of ups and downs from the time of your first profession of Christianity until now? Nevertheless, in spite of all the ups and downs, you start in for another effort: and so through this process, long-continued, you have come to where you are today, and in “looking back” over it all, you can mark some progress, you think, as judged by your feelings-is that your experience? Is that the way you have made progress? In other words, you are an evolutionist? Don’t dodge; confess the honest truth, there is a way to get out of it. So if, when I am describing an evolutionist, so plainly that you see yourself, just say so, admit that it is yourself, and then follow along the steps that God will give you, and that
will bring you out of it all. But I say plainly to you that, if that which I have described has been your experience, if that has been the kind of progress that you have made in your Christian Life, then you are an evolutionist, whether you admit it or not. The best way, however, is to admit it, then quit it, and be a Christian. Another phrase of it: “Evolution, so far as it goes, looks upon matter as eternal.” And “by assuming” this, “the notion of creation is eliminated from those regions of existence to which it is applied.” For I read further that evolution is: “It is clear that the doctrine of evolution is directly antagonistic to that of creation… The idea of evolution, as applied to the formation of the world as a whole, is opposed to that of a direct creative volition.”
That is, evolution, as defined by those who made it-that the world came, and all there is of it, of itself, and that the principle that has brought it to the condition in which it is, is imminent in itself, and is adequate to produce all that is. This being so, in the nature of things “evolution is directly antagonistic to creation.” Now as the world and all there is of it. You do not believe that it all came of itself. You know that you are not an evolutionist as to that, because you believe that God created all things. Every Christian should believe that God created all things-the world and all there is in it. Evolution does admit that; it has no place for creation. Whether you are of this kind or not, there are many of them, who believe that we must have God forgive our sins and so start us on the way all right, but after that we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Accordingly, they do fear, and they do tremble, all the time,
but they do not work out any salvation, because they do not have God constantly working in them, “both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Phil 2:12-13.
Now in Heb 11:3 it is recorded that it is through faith that we understand that the worlds were framed-put together, arranged, built- “by the word of God: so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” The earth which we have was not made of rocks; men were not made of monkeys, apes and “the missing link,” and apes and monkeys and “the missing link” were not made of tadpoles, and tadpoles were not made of protoplasm originally away back at the beginning. No! “The worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”
Now why is it that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear? Simply because the things of which these are made did not appear. And the reason those things did not appear is because they were not at all. They did not exist. The worlds were framed by the word of God, and the word of God is of that quality, it has that property about it, which, when the word is spoken, not only causes the thing to be, but causes to exist the material out of which the thing is made and of which the thing consists. You know also the other scripture, that “by the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth… for he spake and it was.” Psa 33:6-9. AT Jones
Creationist or Evolutionist, Part 2
Upon this I will ask you a question: How long after he spoke, before things were? How much time passed after he spoke, before the thing was? No time. When God by speaking the word, for this one he said, “Let there be light.” Now how much time passed between the words, “Let there be light,” and the time when the light came? I want to understand this matter aright so that you can find out whether you are an evolutionist or a creationist.
All right. Then the man who allows that any time at all passed between God’s speaking and the appearing of the thing, is an evolutionist. If he makes it countless ages upon countless ages, he is simply more of an evolutionist than the one who thinks it took a day; he is the same thing, but more of it.
Next, God said, “Let there be light.” And it was so. “Let there be a firmament.” And it was so. “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind,” it was so. When he spoke, it was always so. That is creation.
You see, then, that it is perfectly logical and reasonable enough too, for the evolutionist to set aside the word of God and have no faith in it, for evolution itself is antagonistic to creation. So when Jesus was here, He said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” The words that Jesus spoke are the words of God. They are imbued with the life of God. They are eternal life, they abide forever, and in them is the creative energy to produce the thing spoken. You remember that after the Sermon on the
Mount, Jesus came down, and there met him a centurion, saying, “My servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. Jesus said unto him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion said, “I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Jesus turned to those standing about and said, “I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel.”
There was the word of God, which said, “It shall be accomplished that which I please.” It was spoken thus of the creative power. And though they professed to recognize the creative energy of the word of God, yet in their own lives they left that all out. They were not made new creatures; no new life was formed within them; the thing was not accomplished by the power of God; it was all of themselves; and so far were they from believing in creation that they rejected the creator and crucified him out of the world. That is what
evolution always does, for do not forget that “evolution is directly antagonistic to creation.” Very well, I will come and heal your servant. O no my Lord, you do not need to come. “Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Jesus replied, “As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant has healed.” When that word went forth, “so be it done unto thee,” how long before their man was healed? Twenty years? No. Didn’t he have to go through the ups and downs before he was certainly healed? Honest, now? No, No!
When the word was spoken, the word did the thing that was spoken, and it did it at once. Another day Jesus was walking along and a leper some distance from him saw and recognized him. He said to Jesus, “If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” Jesus stopped and said, “I will; be though clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.” Mark 1:41-42. We are
not allowed to put a moment of time between speaking of the word and the accomplished fact: “Immediately” the leper was cleansed. Jesus said to a certain person, “Thy sins are forgiven.” How long before it was so? There was no length of time whatever between the word “forgiven” and the thing. The same word, “Thy sins are forgiven,” is spoken to you today. Why do you let any time pass between this word, which is spoken to you and the accomplishment of the thing? Are you going to stop being an
evolutionist and become creationists?
From what I have read, you see that whoever lets any time pass between the word spoke and the thing done, is an evolutionist. The word of God to you is, Man, “thy sins are forgiven thee.” Woman “thy sins are forgiven thee.” “Thy sins are forgiven thee”-present tense, with an emphasis. “Thy sins are forgiven.” I thank God this is so, because the creative energy is in that word “forgiven” to take away all sin and create the man a new creature. I believe in creation. Do you really believe in the creative energy that is in the word “forgiven” spoken to you?
Many people have been longing and longing for a clean heart. But there stands the word, “Create in me a clean heart.” A clean heart comes from creation and by no other means; and that creation is wrought by the word of God. For he says, “A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you.” It speaks to you a new heart. When you allow any time to pass between the word spoken and the fulfilment of that thing in your experience, then you are an evolutionist.
The word says, “Be clean.” He said back yonder, “Let there be light, and there was light.” He
said to the leper, “Be thou clean,” and “immediately” he was clean. He says now to you, “Be clean,” and you are instantly.
Then for your soul’s sake put yourself upon that creative word. Recognize the creative energy in the word of God which comes to you in the Bible, for this word of God in the Bible is the same here to you today that it was when it spoke into space the worlds on high and brought light out of darkness and cleansing to the leper. That word spoken to you today, if received, creates you new in Christ Jesus. That word, spoken today to you afflicted with the leprosy of sin, if received, immediately cleanses you. Just let it. How shall I be clean? By the creative energy of that word, “Be ye clean.” Therefore it is written, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” John 15:3. When you read the word, receive the word, and think upon the word, what is it to you all the time? The creative energy is in you producing the things which the word speaks, and you are living in the very presence of the power of creation. Creation is going on in your life. God is creating in you righteousness, holiness, truth, faithfulness-every good and gracious thing.
In the second chapter of Ephesians, eighth to tenth verses, we read, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Do you want to walk in good works? It can be done only by being created in Jesus Christ unto good works. Stop trying. Look to the Creator and receive his creative word. “Let the word of God
dwell in you richly,” then those good works will appear; you will be a Christian. Then, because you
live with the Creator and are in the presence of the creative energy, you will have that pleasant,
quiet peace and genuine strength and building up that which belongs to a Christian. When he tells you that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them,” then recognize the Creator, recognize only the good works that are created in you, paying no attention whatever to any work that is not created there, because there is nothing good but
what is created by the Lord. Now you were created new in Christ Jesus. He says so. Thank him that it is so. What! Will you be an evolutionist on that verse? That is the present tense, “We are his workmanship.” We are, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Are you? The word is spoken. It is the creative word.
How much time are you going to allow between that word of God and your being created new? Of the creation in the beginning, you said that any man who allows even a minute to pass between the word and the thing is an evolutionist. What are you now as to this word of God, which creates men in Christ Jesus unto good works? Are you an evolutionist here? Come, let us all be creationists.
There are only two ways. There is no halfway ground. Every man and woman in the world is either a creationist or an evolutionist. Evolution is infidelity; it is death. Creation; is fidelity, Christianity; this is real life. Choose Creation, Christianity, and Life, that you may live. Let us be creationists only and creationists forever. And let all the people say; Amen. AT Jones
Sin Red
We will look at this text and then we will have some fun in mining it deeper and deeper and finding more wonders and concepts as we go forwards. Our verse for today is found in Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” All very simple on the surface, so let us drill down deeper and explore.
Now Scarlet is Strong’s #8144 which just says that it is dyed, marinade in cooking terms. Crimson is Strong’s #8438 and this also points us to cloth dye. Now Adam is connected to Strong’s #119 which is dyed red. Now Adam was made from red mud so God called him red mud, Adumdumah in Hebrew, but the dum dum is the red red, or very red man, or ruddy as used in other places in scripture.
Now the other colour is again all the same, White is Strong’s #3835 is Laban, or white bricks. Snow is Strong’s #7950 points us back to whiteness. So from red and white we get Adam and Laban, now we all know about Adam as a good guy, who did a dumb thing at the forbidden tree, but Laban was a bit of a shrewd businessman who always made sure that he got the largest portion of any business transaction. The thing that scripture does record good about him was wives. If you wanted an “A Grade”, Top Class, dedicated Christian wife, who was also stunningly beautiful, well you just went over and saw Uncle Laban or his family and there were plenty of fantastic women to choose a fantastic wife from.
Now in scripture, the themes are normally very closely related so the concept in one form will assist us to understand it in another form. Now as Isaiah got us started on “Comparisons,” I think that we have the right to play some more in themes we understand better. In his day, glistening white brick may have been popular at the building supply merchants, but today the white brick has got a whole lot thinner and is now glistening white tiles. Still made from clay, so we have not deviated from base principles, just now we can visualize and comprehend it a whole lot better.
So we take good ole sturdy Adam (Red Brick) and build our edifice, there it stands in its wonderful robustness, but boring red colour. Now our verse gives us a colour change, so let us order a fair few pallet loads of Laban (glistening white tiles) and what a difference a tile makes. No longer boring and red, it is pure, white and glistening in the sun, a real knockout now.
There is in scripture another object that is coated and the structure is hidden, and that is the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place. Now this was timber, clad in gold plate. Now during the second world war, the British had a problem with buildings burning down, and quite a few burned because the fire outside, burned through the wooden door and thus the fire came inside. Fireproof materials went into the war effort so that left a problem, well that was until it was noted that metal cladding over wooden doors, made a very effective fire door, fireproof.
Now the Ark of the Covenant was made of Shittim Wood. Now Shittim Wood, we would understand it more in relationship to Gum trees. The wood is great, hard to work and hard to get a straight plank, but a finished polished piece of furniture has a very unique and fantastic grain, beautiful. This in Hebrew is likened to human flesh. Now Gold is always connected to God and gold chain is connected to law, hence Mayors have mayoral chains, or evidences around his neck that he is in authority, he is the law.
Now back to the start, red mud, now glistening white. Grainy timber now pure shiny gold, and fireproof. So where is this going you may ask, well mud and timber is connected to you and I in our sinfulness and shortcomings. A wee Heavenly treatment and we disappear and there in its place is just an amazing object, but it still bears the likeness and form of the base structure beneath. We Christians on this side of Calvary call this “The Robe of Christ’s Righteousness,” or that which covers our lacking, and we are no longer seen, but as Paul said “Christ liveth in me,” (Gal 2:20)
Now Paul also plays in concepts relating to our subject in 1 Corinthians 3:11-14 “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.”
Here we see that being fireproof is very critical. If we go back to Laban and adapt him a wee bit and make him now a ceramic tiles, still related products, we can also make our verse fireproof. That added to this verse and we complete our mental gymnastics quite well. In Ezekiel 28:14-16 we get that in the perfect eternity past, Satan was Lucifer and worked for God and stood right beside him, but the verse gives us the distinct impression that it was not a mild and tropical paradise, but an intense hot fiery place, sort of a furnace, reminds you of Daniels three friends who had a private meeting with Jesus in an overheated Furnace, a real cool meeting.
Have you and I availed ourselves of this Heavenly provided cladding, which covers our red-sin completely, makes us all brand new and fantastic, very durable and very much fire proof, this now allows us into the presence of God to associate with him without us bursting into flames and incinerating ourselves into ashes, like the lost will so very soon do. Dear Reader, please come to Jesus right now for a complete makeover, a real white fireproof robe of Christ’s Righteousness, it is your only protection.