(March 2002 Edition)
At the Lord's Table - Unmovable
Excitement at the Breaking of Bread
The covenants of
promise
The
“covenants of promise” are basic to the gospel (Eph. 2:12). They concern
the “seed” Jesus Christ, his obedience even “unto death” (Phil. 2:8), his
resurrection, his priesthood, and his return in glory.
Why ever should the Creator bind Himself with a covenant? A covenant is a promise, contract, or agreement which is sealed by an oath, that is to say, a solemn public declaration of intent. Indeed, God has affirmed that He has committed Himself by “two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie” (Heb. 6:18). And the reason? That “we might have a strong consolation”!
God is our refuge
The apostle in Hebrews 6 uses very interesting picture-language based upon
the geography of the land of promise. God selected six “cities of refuge.”
All were on prominent hilltops. These walled cities were sanctuaries to
which any person guilty of accidental homicide could run and be safe from
vengeance. For such a person, the only hope of survival in this terrible
situation was that city on the skyline. Men would have selected places in
the lowlands, easier to reach. God chose mountain-top sites that signified
Himself, the heavenly and only true refuge. Archaeologists have revealed
that the roads up to these cities were kept – unlike roads in the Caribbean
today! – in a constant state of good repair. The writer to the Hebrews says
that the sanctuary of God’s presence is the real refuge, just as David
recognized (Psalm 14 and fourteen other psalms as well).
Our forerunner
Jesus was the first to flee there. He entered and was saved. He is our
forerunner. We follow him, and if we make it into God’s place of refuge, we
will be saved. He has made a solemn covenant that we will be granted
unconditional pardon, our life will not be forfeit, and we will stay safe
there for ever. In the old typology, the manslayer could not leave the city
of refuge during the lifetime of the high priest (Num. 35:25). Our high
priest is immortal! We will abide with God for ever.
Do we keep our
covenants?
Covenants are very unpopular nowadays. When made, as in marriage or in
legal and industrial contracts, they are hardly taken seriously at all. A
bail bond is a legal covenant; but absconding from bail is looked upon not
only as normal, but as clever, and honouring it voluntarily is considered
stupid beyond belief. Recently, Bro. Melvin, my husband, was out of work
for months because some workers walked off the job leaving highly hazardous
equipment running unattended, threatening the lives of many people. On a
major Caribbean radio station recently, a well-known, talk-show host,
actually suggested that since times are so difficult and economic hardship
so severe, people should not bother to take any commitment seriously
(because politicians don’t, was his reasoning!) but just be selfish and
“think of number one” (and he didn’t mean God!). But “God is not mocked” in
these unscrupulous ways (Gal. 6:7).
Job took his
covenants seriously!
Job had a lot more troubles than most of us. Not least of them was a very
unsupportive wife (Job 2:9). Yet, to his eternal credit, at the very lowest
point in his fortunes and his distress, he acknowledged that his marriage
contract was absolutely sacred, and he was going to stand by it come what
may: “I made a covenant with mine eyes. Why then should I think [lustfully]
upon a maiden? If mine heart has been deceived by a woman, or if I have
laid wait at my neighbour’s door, then may my wife grind unto another, and
let others bow down upon her. For this is a heinous crime, yes, it is an
iniquity to be punished by the judges. For it is a fire that consumes to
destruction” (31:1,9-12).
The use of
covenants
In the early days of the truth in the Caribbean a century ago, brothers and
sisters formed a Christadelphian Friendly and Burial Society. Most members
were very poor, some desperately so, but they put up a few dollars, and
covenanted with one another that in times of bereavement or acute hardship,
they would help one another. And they did. That covenant was the only way
many Christadelphian families avoided their loved ones being thrown into a
pauper’s grave.
A wonderful thing
It is a wonderful thing, beyond all our
comprehension, that the living and eternal God should decide to deal with us
on the basis of covenant, His covenant. Covenants were solemnised by blood,
the blood of a sacrificial animal. Blood is the life, and this ritual meant
one thing: a covenant was pledged on life itself. To renege on a covenant
was to forfeit the right to life. Though the rituals have changed, the
principle has not.
The covenant of baptism
As the Brotherhood spreads through the
non-Christian world, new converts to Bible Truth are finding that their
neighbours and their governments are taking the covenant of baptism into
Jesus Christ very seriously indeed, with life threatening persecution as an
inevitable consequence. In our generally more tolerant Caribbean societies,
how seriously have we taken the covenant of baptism?
“God hath said…”
We often quote the words, “I will never leave
thee or forsake thee” (Heb. 13:5). But look at the context. “He [God] hath
said…” those words. What does that mean for us? It means that we can count
on that covenant of God utterly, “so that we may boldly say, ‘The Lord is my
helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me’”!
Do we keep covenants like that? So that our word alone is our bond? (Matt. 5:33). Do we still keep them when everything has gone wrong, just as when things are going smoothly? If we want life eternal, we must.
Salvation itself is a matter of covenant relationship. God has pledged Himself. So have we. He cannot lie or renege. Having free will, we can. But we are fools if we do. “For the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children’s children, to such as keep His covenant…(Psa. 103:17-18).
Gerzel Gordon
“Be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
I Corinthians 15:58 is a reminder for us to keep on the narrow road when the going gets rough, when we are tempted to depart for the apparently smoother, easier road, seeing other commitments as more important than the work of God. This passage points out that our labour will not be in vain.
There are undoubtedly times in the life of a Christian when our walk is not rosy. Sometimes the narrow, rugged road can be distracting and even discouraging. We can slip, have bruises, even broken parts leaving scars and deformity. Should these adversities so affect us that we resort to complaints and murmurs about the roughness and narrowness of the road? Should we deviate to the smoother, broader road, like Israel of old who murmured in the wilderness and longed for the exotic foods and their previous life as overworked slaves back in Egypt?
Keep the goal in
focus
The way of a Christian can be very frightening
sometimes. However, if we can keep in sharp focus the goal of life for
evermore in the kingdom of God, then, even when death faces us, we will be
prepared to hold on, because we know that our labor is not in vain in the
Lord.
Daniel 3 tells us about three young brethren who were “steadfast, unmoveable.” Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made a great image of himself and commanded all his subjects to bow down and worship it. Modern day dictators do the same thing in subtler ways! But these three brethren remained steadfast and unmoveable in their trust in the God of heaven, and adamantly refused to carry out the king’s commands, despite the fierce fury of this tyrant and his terrifying threat of burning them alive. These three brethren knew that their God had made the universe, and sustained them – unlike the lifeless god of gold and wood and stone which this megalomaniac tyrant had made. They just could not bring themselves to bow down to this idol.
An unexpected
result
The outcome of their faith was remarkable.
Nebuchadnezzar, who earlier had so aggressively challenged the ability of
their God to save them from his hand, after witnessing God’s overwhelming
power, publicly acknowledged His might and extolled Him above all gods. The
Almighty was able to demonstrate His mighty power to this heathen and
idolatrous nation of Babylon only because of the steadfastness and
unmoveability of these three brethren. Their faith was not in vain. The
steadfastness that was maintained, despite this persecution, resulted in the
spread of the Gospel to the nation among whom they were captives and
exiles. From this blessed result, we see that their steadfastness was not
in vain.
Unmoveable Jesus!
This morning we look to Jesus. Why? Because
the steadfastness of all those who have laboured for the Gospel’s sake
cannot be compared to his. Because he was unmoveable, we have hope. Let us
use his example to inspire us to be steadfast, unmoveable. Then we will
know that our labour, too, will not be in vain in the Lord.
Patrick Rodney, Cayman Islands
Excitement at the Breaking of Bread or
The Fall of Young 'Fortunate'
Eutychus in Greek means ‘Fortunate’. It was a typical name given (in jest perhaps?) to male slaves in Greek households. Our Eutychus was doubly fortunate!
The room was warm, the hour late;
And though the apostle’s eloquence
Entranced his hearers, somnolence
Its battle fought, as nodding pate
And smothered yawn their story told,
Portents of what would soon unfold.
For Eutychus the struggle found
‘Gainst sleepiness beyond his strength;
Gave way to drowsiness at length,
And fell three storeys to the ground
From open window-seat, where he
Had sat so long, precariously.In consternation at his cry
The speaker ceased, his audience led
Swiftly outside, to find him dead.
Bereft of youthful energy,
Eutychus lay motionless,
Focus of sorrow and distress.Should such occasion end in tears,
And sweet communion shattered be
By this distressing tragedy?
Swift action drove away such fears;
The apostle by his warm embrace
To Eutychus brought life and grace.
Should any ask of Eutychus
How he responded to such deed
And how he afterwards gave heed –
Alive by the miraculous –
“I died again”, he must reply,
“That I might live, and never die”.
Walter Draper, Kingston, Jamaica
Quiz
Confidence Tricksters Were They All
- On the ship taking Paul to Rome, during the storm what scheme did the sailors try in order to cover up their intention to abandon the ship and its passengers?
- What scheme did Judas have for getting his hands on some of Mary’s money? Who frustrated the scheme and how?
- Who killed two goat kids in a scheme to deceive her husband?
- Rabshakeh was the king of Assyria’s propaganda chief and principal con-artist. What was Hezekiah’s reaction to the approach of this silky smooth talker?
- What sum was offered to sweet-mouth Delilah to wheedle from her boyfriend the secret of his strength? What four strategies did she try, and which was successful? How do you think she spent the money afterwards?
- How much money did Micah (not the prophet of that name) defraud his mother of? Later he thought better of it and restored it to her. Why had she originally saved this sum, and what did she do after Micah refunded it?
- What was Cain’s scheme to attack and kill his brother? (It is clearer in most versions other than the KJV). What lie did he tell afterwards?
In New Testament times, herbs and spices were very important ingredients of both Roman and Jewish cuisine. Every wealthy home had its herb garden, and the following are mentioned in the cookery books of the time: anise, cumin, silphium, thyme, scallion, bay leaf, basil, fennel, hyssop, rue, mint, parsley, pennyroyal, dill, ginger, cardamom, saffron, and cinnamon. Mary, Joanna and Lydia would have been quite at home in our Stabroek market in Georgetown! The equivalent in those days of our hell-fire sauce and fish tea was called liquamen, a very strong stock made of anchovies, factory-produced in seaside cities such as Caesarea and Tiberias.
Herbs and sauces were very valuable products, and rich Jews were expected to “tithe” or offer them to support the temple in Jerusalem and the levitical professional classes such as scribes, lawyers, teachers and doctors. Jesus did not say that this was wrong. But he ridiculed religious leaders because they carefully measured out the proper quantity of herbs and spices but “omitted” the great moral principles of justice, mercy and faith. He was worried about the priorities of religious people who were happy to gain merit by performing rituals, to whom the herbs and spices in their gardens were so much more important than poor and needy people around them.
Apicius was the Roman author of the world’s longest selling cookery book, entitled “Sauces.” Editions were eventually produced for four hundred years. He apparently got into some financial trouble. When the bursar of his estate revealed that he only had ten million sesterces left (about six million USD in today’s money), he took poison saying that it would be no longer possible for him to maintain his accustomed life style!
Which is our priority: herbs [our ecclesial protocols] or mercy?
From Marian Woodman
Twice I was invited to exhort at the old Moreland Hill meeting. The presiding brother, Percy Drummond, called upon a fine old brother, Jabez Davis, to read Matthew 22. It was a very powerful reading but, oddly, the verses were not in the text order, and he missed out one or two. On the next occasion, Jim Drummond as presiding bother called upon Jabez to read Haggai 2. There was a fairly long pause and then, “Sorry, I don’t know that one, brother.” Jabez was illiterate. He wasn’t reading at all. He was reciting from memory.
When I read Bro. Hugo Mitchell’s exhortation, I remember when I met Wilfred Grunnill, an English missionary brother who was in his eighties. He had a long white beard, and incredible determination of spirit. He arrived in Port Antonio after midnight in an old beat up motor car with no muffler and no headlamps. He had made the eighty mile journey from Kingston, through the night and over the Blue Mountains without lights. I asked him how he had managed. He said that as a seaman, he had always had good night vision, and for some of the way he had just followed the tail lights of a car in front. He also said that he had a flat tire on the way over, which is why he was a bit late.
I once visited a little ecclesia in the mountains of one of the West Indian islands. The Sunday I went they had a baptism – a 71-year-old lady. They asked me to officiate. We went to the only water available, a rushing mountain stream. We made a little pool by damming the flow with big stones. The water was ice cold. I shivered continuously from the time I stepped in. It didn’t seem to worry the new sister at all. She was so eager that she almost plunged into the water. On emerging, she paused a moment to raise her hands and shout an Alleluia. She took the emblems afterwards as if her life depended on it, which, if you come to think about it, it did. A few days later, after I had left the area, I heard that she had fallen asleep in Christ, from pneumonia.
As a young sister, I spent a few years in the Caribbean. The most meaningful moment for me was a breaking of bread meeting in a brother’s house in Marabella. There was a Hindu funeral going on right in the next yard, and the wailing and shrieking was so loud that it was impossible for us to hear either presiding or exhorting brother. Both decided they could not compete. So we remembered the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus in complete silence. The emblems meant so much more to me that day.
Elisha, when his master Elijah was taken away from him, witnessed an awesome sight: a chariot of fire and horses of fire that came between the two prophets. Elisha cried, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!” Who was he speaking to? Elijah? God? Both? And what was the connection with Israel?
In II Kings 6:15, Elisha and his servant are besieged by Syria’s army. Elisha prays that his fearful servant may be able to see what Elisha could see. When he looked, he saw chariots of fire and horses of fire on the mountains all around, a clear demonstration of God’s power and protection. Was this vision open to Elisha’s eyes all the time? What did he see and what was he talking about?
Psalm 104 talks about God’s power and might and His creative force in the forming of this world: Who maketh the clouds his chariot and his ministers a flame of fire. Isaiah 66 speaks thus: The Lord will come with fire, and with chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. Habakkuk 3 has this: Was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?
In II Samuel 22, David speaks of God’s saving power in song and describes how God had protected those who called upon His name. Was David privy to the same vision witnessed by Elijah and Elisha, because the language is so similar? In verse 11, we have a big clue to our understanding of this subject. The Hebrew word for chariot is the same root word as that for cherub. The chariot and the cherubim are one and the same, the means by which God moves around.
Ezekiel 1 fills in many details. There we have many significant features: clouds, a whirlwind or tornado, a fantastic vehicle with wheels full of eyes, and strange living creatures. Above the creatures was a sheet of ice or crystal that appears to be supported by the wings of the creatures. There was a throne like sapphire, and a rainbow of many colours. The appearance was the likeness of the glory of the Lord. In chapter 10, the man clothed with linen (a prophecy of Christ?) was told to go in between the wheels under the cherub and fill his hand with coals of fire. The court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord. Was this the same glory used to lead the Israelites through the desert in the pillar of cloud and fire?
What we see here is a vision of God’s glory demonstrated in the construction of a fantastic vehicle. This vision of God’s power and activity in the world was seen by Moses, Elijah, Elisha, David, Ezekiel and other faithful ones, giving them all the strength and encouragement they needed to witness to the truth. Could this be the means by which the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven by the cloud that received him? And he will come back “in like manner” as he went. Will we be ready when our Lord and Master, the Son of God, rides upon his horses and chariots of salvation?
R.L. Canning and Andrew Spiers, Australia