09 3. The Miracle of The Ages or Jehovah's Greatest Wonder
3. The Miracle of The Ages or Jehovah’s Greatest Wonder
The Miracle of The Ages or Jehovah’s Greatest Wonder
INTRODUCTION
Jehovah was one thousand six hundred years performing this miracle; but when finished, it was destined to manifest its wonder-working power in the hearts of the people of the earth until earth time shall be no more. This Book is a living wonder today—a living, powerful evidence of God’s presence in the world.
Faith should grow exceedingly. The best way to make it grow is to know your Bible as the Book from God. A QUESTION FOR THE SKEPTIC
It must be admitted that either God or man wrote the Bible. If man wrote it, he was at his best—a staggering genius! The Bible has been here for centuries. It is claimed that man through a process of evolution has ascended from the lower to the higher order of being. If this be true, man should now be more capable of producing a Bible than when the Bible was written. The Old Testament, with its moral law, is about four thousand years old; the New Testament, with Christ and his teaching, is about two thousand years old. If the theory of evolution be true, man should now be above two thousand years more capable, to say the least, of producing a Bible than when ours was finished. Will the infidel tell us, if the Bible is of human origin, why man cannot give us another Bible better than the one we have? Is it not true that one of the outstanding characteristics of a human product is that man himself, who produced it, or some other man, can improve it? Men write books, but other men make improvements upon these books. They become obsolete and are discarded. Will the infidel tell us how it happened that man, centuries ago, finished a book that he has since been powerless to improve? Let the skeptic give us a Bible that is better than the one we have. Then, but not until then, shall we listen to his contention.
ARGUMENTS NO SKEPTIC CAN ANSWER The Anticipation or Foreknowledge of the Bible. In Galatians 3:8 Paul speaks of "the scripture, foreseeing." This simply means that the Mind that gave the Scriptures could foresee. The Bible claims to be a finished Book for the purpose intended. It claims to contain all things that pertain to life and godliness. But it claims more than this; it claims to be a shield against every wind of doctrine. The apostles were placed in the church, inspired of God, for the purpose of bringing the church "unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." And all of this done for what? "That we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error." (Ephesians 4:8-14.)
Divine revelation ceased with the book of Revelation in A.D. 96. Since then hundreds of erroneous doctrines, theories, and ways in religion, unheard of while the Bible was in the making, have arisen. The Mind that produced the Bible foreknow all these things, and, anticipating each of them, He intentionally put certain statements in the Bible to shield the honest hearts from deception. This is what is meant by the anticipation or foreknowledge of the Bible. We claim the Bible meets every need of the human heart; that it not only teaches us how to live—what to do and what not to do—but that it shields us from every wind of doctrine. The Author of the Bible intentionally put certain things in it to keep us from being led astray by the winds of doctrine that have since arisen. No human mind knew one thing about these doctrines at the time God had placed in the Bible the statements to keep the human heart from believing them as they would arise. This fact proves that, in taking the Bible as our guide and shield, we are not following "cunningly devised fables," and that the men who wrote the Bible spake not "by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:16-21.) Could man have written a book like this? All the brains of earth compacted into one gigantic brain could not write a book that anticipates all the errors that will arise in one generation. Here we have a Book that anticipated all the errors that have arisen during the two thousand years since it was finished. Get this one great truth, an absolute fact, about our Bible, and never be found again doubting its superhuman origin. The Utility of Every Scripture. By "utility" we mean "fitness for some desirable practical purpose." Paul declares that "every scripture inspired of God is also profitable." (See 2 Timothy 3:16.)This teaches that "every scripture" was given for some specific, definite purpose. But we have some Scriptures in the Bible that have no profit, no practical purpose whatever, until errors that they were given to destroy arise. Of course, everything that God wants men to do is clearly pointed out and is easily seen, but statements placed in the Bible to shield from error cannot be appreciated until the errors are advanced from which they were designed to shield us. Not one error can be named that the Scripture cannot be pointed out purposely put in the Bible to keep us from believing that error. The Thought Illustrated. Out before us there, we will say, is a five-hundred-acre field. At distances varying from one hundred to five hundred yards we have forty archers, standing with their bows in hand, well supplied with arrows in the quiver. In the field that lies out before them are targets, the same number of targets that we have arrows to be shot by the archers. Every target has a number, and on the arrows we find a number corresponding to a number on the targets.
Now, with this picture before you, let us advance a step further. We will say total darkness covers the land. These men have never seen this field and know nothing about the targets being in that field. But at different times during the night each pulls his bow and lets go an arrow. This continues until one thousand five hundred arrows have been shot. The darkness is then driven away by the morning sun, and what do we see? Every arrow has hit a target in the center, and, to our amazement, each arrow has the number on it corresponding to the target it hit. Could you explain a thing of this kind? Yes, but only by saying that some mind or power beyond those men directed the archers in shooting. The Bible is just such a wonder. Ranging from two to four thousand years ago, about forty men have written, and the Bible declares that they wrote as the Spirit guided them. They are the men used by Jehovah in writing the Bible. The future was lying out before them, but into its darkness they could not see. But, at different times and places, each pulled his bow and let go an arrow of truth into the darkness of the unexplored future. They themselves did not and could not understand the statements they made. Seemingly there was no utility in what they said. But out there in this great field of darkness there are errors that God knows will arise—blind guides, false apostles, and even Satan himself transforming himself into an angel of light. God wants an arrow shot into this darkness that will put to death every false doctrine that he knows will arise. So these Spirit-guided archers, or writers, continue to let go statements until every error that shall arise has a statement made to put it to death in the heart of those who will believe what Jehovah says, making their writings a perfect shield for all the future needs of God’s people. As time rolls on and light drives the darkness away, we see these statements sticking right in the heart of errors unheard of and unthought of at the time these men wrote. Can we say this is all an accident? Thoughtful souls will make no such assertions. They will. know holy men of God wrote as they were guided by his Spirit. They will know that God, who can see the end from the beginning, was in it all and wrote a Book that would meet every need of his saints so long as earth time continues. The Bible is as great a wonder, living among us, as any miracle Jesus performed while here on earth. God help us all to open our eyes and behold what Jehovah has done for us and be not faithless, but believing. Truly it is declared: "The word of God is living and active." (Hebrews 4:12.) Yes, just as much so as if God personally were walking right by our side, letting words fall from his lips, pointing out dangers here and there, as we go along the way, that he knows will hurt and harm us. God’s word is just as living and helpful as that.
Exemplifications. The Claim That the Author of the Bible Did Not Know the Rotundity of the Earth. The enemy talks much about the unscientific expressions in the Bible. He could not show just one such expression. In 1 Timothy 6:20, reading the Authorized Version, Paul says: O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called." This statement certainly places the Author of the Bible on the side of all true science and opposed to all false science. The Bible claims to be a book of science only in reference to how best to live while here on earth. Yes, it is a book of science on right living, and the skeptic is powerless to make improvements on it. The Bible claims to have been written to show what is "good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their life." (Ecclesiastes 2:3.) In Deuteronomy 6:24 Moses says its statutes and commandments are "for our good always." Deuteronomy 10:13 says: "Keep the commandments of Jehovah, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good." Does the man live who can show the Bible fails in this purpose for which it was written? As to how best to live, we have in the Bible a guidebook that cannot be improved upon. It claims to be a book of science in this sense only. But it touches on other books of science, such as zoology, the science of all animal life; botany, the science of plant life; and astronomy, the science of the heavenly bodies. And when it does touch on such things, it shows that the Author of the Bible knows these fields of science perfectly and states things about them before men ever dreamed of them.
We are told that such expressions as "the four corners of the earth" are unscientific expressions. It would have been very unscientific to have spoken of it otherwise. Jehovah, the Bible declares, sometimes "calleth the things that are not, as though they were." (Romans 4:17.) We speak of things as they appear to the masses and not always as they are in fact. It is perfectly scientific to so do. But did the Author of the Bible know all about the rotundity of the earth and that it rotates on its axis? He certainly did, and placed statements in the Bible to let us know that he knew centuries before man ever thought of it. It was Copernicus, in 1543, who first advanced the theory that the earth is round and rotates on its axis. Galileo, years later, championed this theory, and for so doing he was called before the church and persecuted. Even Bible-loving people then had not noticed these statements that were so shrewdly placed in the Holy Scriptures. Remember, the Bible was written to show man how to best live. God could not speak out on questions not germane to this end. But he foreknew that scoffers would arise and make statements against the old Book and its Author at this point, so he let us know that he knows. He knew the day would come when we would need to know that he knows.
So, more than three thousand years before Copernicus was born, God dropped this from the pen of faithful Job: "He stretcheth out the north over empty space, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." (Job 26:7.) Can the modern scientist describe the fact about the earth more perfectly than this? We challenge him to make a statement that is its equal. Did not Isaiah declare more than two thousand years before Copernicus was born, "It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth"? (Isaiah 40:22.) Did not Jesus shrewdly let us know that he knew the facts in the case? When speaking of his second coming, he declares that he will come in "that day" when men are working in the field, and "in the night" when all nature will be slumbering in the darkness of the night and toilers will be resting? (See Luke 17:30-31; Luke 17:34.) So down to death goes the contention that our God knew not the facts in the case and spoke of "the four quarters of the earth" because he did not know any better. How unreasonable and unscientific for the Author of the Bible to have so spoken about matters of this kind as to have raised controversy over it! If even friends of the Bible would persecute Galileo fifteen hundred years after the Bible was finished for championing the idea that the earth is round and rotates on its axis, what would they have done in our Lord’s day if he had so spoken of it as to have raised the question for study? Have I headed my series correctly when I put it:"The Miracle of the Ages; or, Jehovah’s Greatest Wonder"?
Peter and the Pope.
Paul is very specific in foretelling of the falling away of some, and states that "forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats" would be some of the false doctrines introduced after his day. (See 1 Timothy 4:1-3.) The "falling away" is prophesied of and to a degree described in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-10.
Let us remember that the Pope was unheard of in the days of the apostles. Not until Boniface the III, 606 A.D., did we have a fully developed Pope. "The mystery of lawlessness" that developed Roman Catholicism, and all other religious organizations not known in the New Testament, was at work in Paul’s day. And we are not left to guess as to what it was. In Galatians 1:7 we have: "There are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ." In 1 Timothy 1:3 we have Paul saying to Timothy: "As I exhorted thee to tarry at Ephesus, . . . that thou mightest charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine." But what are the claims of the Roman Catholic Church in behalf of their Pope? (l) They say he is infallible; (2) they teach the doctrine of celibacy—that the Pope cannot be a married man; (3) and, strangest of all, they claim Peter was the first Pope and that their one hundred and ninety-five Roman pontiffs are his successors. Was Peter a married man? Will you now remember that Paul says, "Every scripture inspired of God is profitable "? Every Scripture has its own utility. But we have some Scriptures placed in the Bible to put to death certain errors that God foreknew would be introduced. Tell me the profit or the utility of the following Scripture: "Have we not the right to lead about a wife that is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, . . . and Cephas (Peter)?" Why single out Peter here? Why not say, "Have we not the right to lead about a wife as the rest of the apostles and James, or John?" Just because God foreknew there would arise no false doctrine about James’ and John’s right to marry, but he could see six hundred years ahead and see the full development of Roman Catholicism and its doctrine concerning the Pope and Peter and celibacy. To ask, "Have we not the right to lead about a wife that is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles?" would have been enough, for Peter was one of the rest of the apostles. But God saw that the need of knowing that Peter undoubtedly? was a married man would come, hence placed it beyond a quibble. "Every scripture inspired of God is profitable."" I challenge any man to name the utility or profit of singling out Peter if Roman Catholicism had never arisen. Was Peter infallible? Are you surprised when I tell you that, so far as the records go to show, not one of the apostles made a mistake or deserved to be blamed for anything after being placed in the church by the baptism of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, except Peter? Some of the others may have made mistakes— doubtless did—but there is no record of it. In Galatians 2:11-14 you have Paul resisting Peter to the face at Antioch, rebuking him before all, because he stood condemned for his dissimulation. Think of this in connection with the Roman Catholic dogma that you must call their Pope "Lord God the Pope" and dare not rebuke or call in question his edicts. Every Scripture has its utility. What is the profit of this Scripture? And just here I am reminded of Acts 10:25-26, where Cornelius fell down at Peter’s feet when he entered his home, but Peter tolerated no such, but "raised him up, saying, Stand up: I myself also am a man." Why is this Scripture in the Bible? Every Scripture was put in the Bible for a definite purpose. Can you not see that the Author of the Bible was looking to the future needs of his people while having such things placed in the sacred writings?
God’s Foreknowledge Of Errors That Would Be Taught On Baptism.
Let us remember that Paul says: "Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness." It seems that man is prone to want his own way and introduce doctrines and ideas of his own. God foreknew just what these would be, hence placed something in the Bible to reprove and correct us when turning aside from his way.
There can be no doubt about what it takes to constitute the act of baptism. It took place in the river Jordan (Mark l:5, 9, 10), or somewhere else where there was "much water" (John 3:23) . There was a coming unto the water, going down into it, the baptism taking place while in the water, then a coming up out of the water. (See Mark 1:10; Acts 8:35-39.) The baptismal act is declared to be a burial and resurrection. (Colossians 2:12.) No one can read what the New Testament says about baptism and have any doubt as to what constitutes the act itself. But, in spite of all this, Satan has introduced errors galore, and many, because they have not in their souls a knowledge of the exact sayings of the Scriptures on the subject, are led into the ways of man. The baptism of the eunuch. We turn, for example, to Acts 8:35-39. Before studying this Scripture, let it be said that words are signs of ideas. Let it also be remembered that babbling is condemned in the Holy Scriptures in the strongest terms. But who would accuse God of being a babbler? But this you unintentionally do if you are not careful as to how you handle the Scriptures. If God has ever used a word without some definite purpose in view, he has been guilty of babbling. If he has used a word when he was not trying to plant some idea in our minds, he has babbled.
But, in giving us this brief description of baptism in Acts 8, he tells us five times, in a short statement, that when the baptism took place, both the preacher and the one baptized were in the water. Let us now read it together: "They came unto a certain water; and the eunuch saith, Behold, here is water; what Doth hinder me to be baptized? And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more, for he went on his way rejoicing." (Acts 8:36-39.) on account of careless reading some do not get the force of this Scripture. Here it tells us five times that when this baptism took place the one baptized and the one doing the baptizing were in the water. If it simply said, "They went down into the water, and he baptized him," this would put the baptizing in the water. And if it said nothing about their going down into the water, but read, "And he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water," this would put the baptizing in the water. But it not only uses the word they twice, but it uses the word both twice, and then renames the one to be baptized and the one doing the baptizing. "And they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water."
Now, in the light of this fact, we ask: Since Paul says, "Every scripture inspired of God is profitable"— that is, it was given for "some desirable, practical purpose"—what is the purpose here? Why tell us five times that this baptism took place in the water? Don’t you know that this Scripture has no profit at all except to deal death out to the Roman Catholic doctrine that sprinkling will do for baptism? You go where there is much water, you go down into it, there you are buried with Christ in baptism and there you are also raised with him, then you come up out of the water, and you are baptized. About this there can be no doubt. But why go to all this trouble if any way will do? Baptism is based on the death and burial of Jesus. It is the form of that burial. We dare not change this form. "Every scripture is profitable." But the man does not live who could tell the profit in this Scripture if it is not to shield us from the false doctrine that sprinkling will do for baptism. But the writer of the Acts of the Apostles, where this Scripture is found, knew absolutely nothing about sprinkling for baptism. It was absolutely unheard of in his day. But God’s Spirit, which guided him, could see out there in the darkness of the future the need of such a statement, hence had him record this. The baptism of the jailer. You find this in Acts 16:19-34. Was it possible for Luke, who wrote the Acts of the Apostles, to have known that, centuries after his day, men would arise and contend that the jailer and his household were sprinkled, and, to substantiate this contention, claim that he was baptized in the jail, and others claim that he was baptized in the jailer’s house? Could he know that when you routed them from the contention that he was baptized. in the jail by referring them to the fact that it says he "brought them out," that they would answer that this means he brought them out of the inner prison to the outer prison, hence that you would need to know this also is false? These things have been taught about the jailer’s baptism—things that were unheard of in Luke’s day; and no soul could have even then imagined that such perversions of these Scriptures could be indulged in. But Paul says: "Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable." Here is one by inspiration given. Let us note the facts.
First: "And they brought them out." Why this statement? Could there be any possible profit in this statement had not God foresaw that some would contend that the baptism was done in the jail?
Second: "And they spake the word of the Lord unto him, with all his house." Into what did the jailer bring Paul and Silas when he brought them out of the inner prison? He brought them into the place where the preaching was done viz., "in his house."
Third: "And when he brought them into his house." Why this statement? This was said after the baptism had been attended to. God foresaw that we would need to know that the baptism was not done in the house where the preaching was done, but done out of his house; and when it was over, he brought these men back into his house, set meat before them, having believed in the Lord with all of his house.
Why does not the Scripture read this way: "And they spake the word of the Lord unto him and to all that were in his house. And the same hour of the night he washed their stripes, and was baptized, he and all of his immediately. And set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all of his house, having believed in the Lord"? I ask again: Why tell us they were brought out of the prison? Why tell us the preaching was done in the jailer’s house? Why let us know that the baptizing did not take place in the man’s house, but that they were brought back into the house after the baptism had been attended to? The Author of the Bible foresaw every erroneous idea that ever would be advanced. He intentionally placed something in the Scriptures to keep us from believing them. Name one error that has been advanced, and the Scripture can be found that deals out death to it. Could man have given us a Book like this? The Bible has to come to us from God or man, from a superhuman source or a human source. It could not have come from the latter; hence, God gave it to us. It is, indeed, the miracle of the ages!