John Dennison

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 George Müller Biography - George Müller was one of the early brethren in the United Kingdom who is known for his work of faith among orphan children by running his organization by faith to provide for their needs.

"May it not be the will of God that I should establish schools for these children, asking Him to give me the means?"

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10 Ways to Read the Bible

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 Here's the Difference

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 The Encourager

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The Moral Glories of Our Lord

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If a Christian falls into sin for a longer or shorter period, and is restored to communion through confession, will this entail loss in eternity, or will all be forgiven and forgotten at the Judgment Seat of Christ?

It seems very important to distinguish between God’s government and God’s grace. When a sinner is led to repentance and faith in Christ, he is forgiven all iniquities: he possesses eternal life; he “shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5: 24)." TARGET="_blank">John 5: 24). He is a child of God. He is “in Christ Jesus” and there is “no condemnation” to him; this is grace.

But if he sins as a child of God, whether for a longer or shorter period, it will lead to chastening in one form or other. This is government. He needs the forgiveness of the Father and it is for such a circumstance that the advocacy of Christ exists: “If any man (i.e. Christian) sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1)." TARGET="_blank">1 John 2:1). This advocacy produces conviction by the Spirit, confession and restoration, and “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)." TARGET="_blank">1 John 1:9). This again is grace. But though forgiven and cleansed, it does not follow that the effect of the sin is at once removed governmentally.

David confessed his sin and was straightway forgiven, but the Lord dealt with him governmentally in three ways:
“the sword would never depart from his house,” the child would die, and he would receive the same treatment he had meted out to others (2 Samuel 12:1" TARGET="_blank">2 Samuel 12:1 - ). So that though sins are forgiven and forgotten in one sense, they are not in another. The time that the soul is away from God, is lost time, for it is fruitless. What has been occupied in sin and self-will, might have been filled with service and fruit for God. The believer stands in different relations to God and Christ. He is not only a member of Christ, a child of God and a temple of the Spirit, but he is a steward, a servant, a builder, etc., to the Lord. If his “work be burnt up he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15);" TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 3:15); that “everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)." TARGET="_blank">2 Corinthians 5:10). It seems very hard to believe that this will not entail an eternal difference. Some are preparing themselves for a high position in the millennial and everlasting kingdoms, which others could not possibly fill, owing to their unbelief, self-will or disobedience to the Lord’s commands.

William Hoste

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THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

Some hold that there is a difference between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven, and that only those who are born again are in the former, while all who profess are in the latter. If such be the case, how can they explain Matthew 5:20" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 5:20 and Matthew 18:3" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 18:3? I was under the impression that both were the same, and that conversion and regeneration also were the same. Am I correct?

Some, I believe, maintain that the Kingdom of God is the real thing and the Kingdom of heaven inclusive of all profession. But does not the first Beatitude seem to refute this? “Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5. 2)." TARGET="_blank">Matt. 5. 2). A comparison of Matthew 13" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 13: and Luke 13" TARGET="_blank">Luke 13: shows that in the two chapters the same parables—of the mustard seed and of the leaven—are referred, in the former to the Kingdom of heaven, in the latter to the Kingdom of God. This would seem to indicate that the difference cannot be vital. In the one phrase, the seat of the authority exercised is emphasised. It comes from “the heavens”: In the other, the one who exercises the authority is the predominant thought—it is God Himself.

I believe both are real. How could it be otherwise when both belong to God? It is dangerous, however, to shuffle Bible terms. But in the Kingdom of Israel remnants of the Canaanites, e.g., the Gibeonites remained, but were not subjects of the Kingdom. In the Kingdom of this land, foreigners, enemy spies, alien communists, ever hostile to our king, may live and lurk; they must recognise the law of the land, but they are not recognised as British subjects and they can be repatriated at the will of the Sovereign. So there are doubtless some who profess the name of Christ who are not really subjects of the Kingdom. They will be purged out, but it does not follow they were ever included in the Kingdom.

As regards the terms, “conversion,” and “regeneration,” they may coincide and I believe do, but they are far from being synonymous.Conversion is the turning of the sinner to God and represents the man-ward side of things; regeneration is the new-birth wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit, when conversion takes place. This represents the God-ward side.

W.H,

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1 Corinthians 6:1-6" TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 6:1-6  When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?  (2)  Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?  (3)  Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!  (4)  So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?  (5)  I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers,  (6)  but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?

There were problems in the church at Corinth with conflicts between brothers.  Christians should be above such petty behavior.  And then Paul suddenly writes the surprising statement that Christians will judge angels.  He adds no explanation in the immediate context to help us understand where, when or how this will happen. 

It is known from from Jude 1:6" TARGET="_blank">Jude 1:6 and 2 Peter 2:4," TARGET="_blank">2 Peter 2:4, 2 Peter 2:9" TARGET="_blank">2 Peter 2:9 that angels will be judged. It is also clear from scripture that Christ will be the Judge (John 5:22)." TARGET="_blank">John 5:22).  It must be that we are united to Christ that gives us this right to be involved with the judgment upon angels.  Since Christ will include us in this task in the future, shouldn’t we be able to handle matters of judgment in this life?

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Did Jephthah really offer his daughter as a burnt offering to the Lord? (Judges 11:29-40)." TARGET="_blank">Judges 11:29-40).

To this one would fain be able to reply, as not a few commentators and others have done, with a definite NO. Their reasons and arguments have been so clearly set forth in a recent article elsewhere, that we cannot here do better than enumerate them in the order given. (1) It is pointed out that human sacrifices were expressly forbidden by the Law (Deuteronomy 18: 9-10)." TARGET="_blank">Deuteronomy 18: 9-10). (2) In verse 31, the marginal reading “or” (of the A.V., not R.V., as stated) is adopted, as showing that two alternatives were in Jephthah’s mind: “Whatsoever cometh forth . . . shall surely be the Lord’s, or I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” And it is remarked that, according to Leviticus 27:4," TARGET="_blank">Leviticus 27:4, a person thus vowed might be redeemed for money. (3) The daughter’s words, “that I may bewail my virginity” (v. 37), are taken to imply that this was the real outcome of the vow, that she was pledged by her father to perpetual celibacy; and further proof of this is found in the statement of verse 39, “And she knew no man.” (4) At verse 40 the reading, “talk with”, of the A.V. margin, is given preference to the textual reading, “lament”; and it is suggested that for four days in each year the daughters of Israel went to talk with Jephthah’s daughter. We may hope, if only for Jephthah’s own sake, that this view is correct; but there are difficulties in connection with each of the points mentioned which may not be ignored. If we enumerate these also, we shall perhaps put the questioner and others in a position to form their own judgment as to what really took place. (1) While there can be no doubt as to the Lord’s disapproval of human sacrifices, our passage nowhere states that Jephthah’s action met with His approval; and the question is not what the Law forbade, but what a man such as Jephthah, who had lived for some time among the idolatrous Syrians of Tob, might say and might do. (2) The “and” in verse 31 is the common Hebrew particle which is similarly translated some thousands of times elsewhere; and although there are a few passages in which it is employed disjunctively and rendered, “or,” the wording of its context in such instances usually indicates this, which is not so here. Moreover, the statement, “shall surely be the Lord’s, or I will offer it up for a burnt offering,” is not very intelligible, because its being offered as a burnt offering did not mean that it was any less “the Lord’s.” Neither is it easy to understand why Jephthah should expect an animal, rather than a person, to be first out of the doors of his house to meet him on his return from the war. () Why should Jephthah’s daughter require two preliminary months to bewail her virginity, if she was going to have years of a lifetime afterwards to bewail it as much as she pleased? As to verse 39, it may be mentioned that the R.V. reads it, “And she had not known man.” (.) In verse 40, the R.V. rendering, “celebrate,” is probably the most exact of any, especially as the only other occurrence of this Hebrew word in the same form is in Judges 5:11," TARGET="_blank">Judges 5:11, where it is translated “rehearse.” If the meaning be that the daughters of Israel, while Jephthah’s daughter was still alive, went to talk with her, why should they have limited their conversations with her to four days in each year? Some may perhaps attach less importance to these difficulties than others will; but they exist, and must be faced fairly before one can confidently assert that Jephthah did not slay his daughter, but merely compelled her to remain unmarried.

W.R.

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Can we approach the Lord Jesus to worship Him apart from the Father?

We are on holy ground when considering any aspect of divine truth, but especially do we need to approach “with unshod feet,” when it is a question of the Being of God! We can only know what He is pleased to reveal, and even then it is “as in a glass darkly,” and “in part.” There is one God—that is, one Divine Essence; but in that unity there are three Divine Persons or Subsistencies, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; co-equal, co-eternal, and co-substantial: that is, each of the three possesses the whole Divine substance. We must neither divide the substance, nor confound the persons.

These three Persons are in necessary relations to one another, and it is important not to confound these relations. Each possesses the Personal properties essential to Himself, and which cannot be predicated of or communicated to the others. Thus it belongs to the Father to “beget:” His are the eternal counsels; the Son is the Only-begotten, the Incarnate One; He alone suffered for sin. The Spirit proceedeth from the Father and the Son. The Spirit reveals the Son, by whom the Father is declared or interpreted. Now, it is not derogating from one Divine Person to refrain from attributing to Him what the Holy Scriptures assign to Another.

Thus we never read of worship being offered to the Holy Spirit, though He is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, eternal, divine as the Father and the Son. But we do read, even in the days of His humiliation, of worship being rendered to the Lord Jesus, and He accepted it. And in Revelation 5:8-13" TARGET="_blank">Revelation 5:8-13 Divine worship is paid to the Lamb in heaven. Nevertheless, the Lord proclaims in John 4:23, 24," TARGET="_blank">John 4:23, 24, that the true Worshippers will worship the Father, and that it is the “Father who is seeking worshippers”—”God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” The apostle Paul indicates, too, in that pregnant verse (Eph. ii. 18), the true Divine order. “Through Him (Christ Jesus) we both (believers from Jew and Gentile) have access by the Spirit unto the Father.” The Lord is the way to the Father and the substance of worship; the Spirit the power; the Father the recipient of the worship of the people.”

W.H.

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