06.01. Introductory

1. INTRODUCTORY

Ere God had built the mountains,
Or raised the fruitful hills;
Before He filled the fountains
That feed the running rills—
In Me, from everlasting,
The wonderful I AM,
Found pleasures, never wasting;
And Wisdom is My name.

When, like a tent to dwell in,
He spreads the skies abroad,
And swathed about the swelling
Of ocean’s mighty flood—
He wrought by weight and measure;
And I was with Him then:
Myself the Father’s pleasure,
And Mine, the sons of men.

Thus Wisdom’s words discover
Thy glory and Thy grace,
Thou everlasting Lover
Of our unworthy race.
Thy gracious eye surveyed us,
Ere stars were seen above;
In wisdom Thou hast made us, And died for us in love.
And couldst Thou be delighted
With creatures such as we—
Who, when we saw Thee, slighted
And nailed Thee to a tree?
Unfathomable wonder,
And mystery divine!
The voice that speaks in thunder
Says—“Sinner, I am thine!”
Cowper. For a correct estimate of the present times, and a true conception of future events, we must have a clear understanding of the things that are past. We are in danger of living too much in the present, and of looking upon the Divine activities as if they were haphazard or accidental, as our own always are, save as we are under the control of the Spirit of God. We seem to have contracted the idea that in the history of the race God has been making experiments with men; and that when one plan has failed, He has adopted another. Such false conceptions arise from the fact that, mentally and spiritually, we live too much in the circle of our own times, and are forgetful of all that has gone before. The corrective is found in studying history from the Divine standpoint. Nothing yields a more chaotic, uncertain, and unsatisfactory result than a view merely from the human side; while, on the contrary, order, beauty, and progress, are seen only as we take the Divine outlook. The Chart which accompanies these Lectures is intended as an aid to the mind through the avenue of the eye. It is a comparatively simple delineation of the events with which we have to deal, and is intended to represent the whole stream of time. The portion of a circle colored blue represents the past eternity. The beginning of time is marked by a small green circle, signifying a state of earthly perfection, the garden of Eden as it came from the hand of God. Human history runs on in epochs—from the Fall of man to the Flood; from the Flood to the call of Abraham; from the call of Abraham to Moses; and the reign of Law to the coming of Christ. From the point where human sin begins, the red line marks the presence of sacrifice, the blood of “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” At the end of the period of Law, the Cross is uplifted; and a line ascending indicates the return of Jesus to the heavens. So far as humanity is concerned, that line is black, announcing the culmination of sin; and, in contrast, we have the gold which tells of heavenly glory accomplished by that Cross of Jesus Christ. A circle, showing the sphere of the Holy Spirit’s dispensation, is colored red, because the whole earth to-day, as viewed from the Divine standpoint, is under the blood of Christ’s Cross. God is dealing with man, entirely and everywhere, under the shelter and shadow of that Cross. A thin, green line from Eden to Calvary marks the fact that throughout human history God has never left the earth without witnesses who have been loyal to Him. That line becomes, in the period of the Spirit’s work, a golden one; for the testimony is now of a heavenly, as distinct from the former earthly, character. A line half gold, half purple, indicates the priestly work of Jesus Christ in the heavens during this period. The device of a tongue of fire represents the Spirit as connecting the exalted Christ and the earth on which we live. This dispensation ends with the coming of Christ, and the ascent of the Church to meet Him, marked by a line, the black of which signifies the mystery of the rapture to the unregenerate, and the blue and gold, the glory the Church now enters upon with Christ. Then sets in a short period of tribulation upon the earth, indicated by a black section; at the end of which Christ and His Church come to the mid-heavens; He Himself descends to the earth; and we have the Millennium, a green circle with the star of gold, showing that while an earthly glory is set up, the Kingdom of Heaven will be realized under the direct rule of Christ and His people. The red line of blood is taken up and continued on our Chart immediately upon the end of this dispensation. At the end of the Millennium there will be a short period of further trouble upon the earth, again marked by a black section. A golden section indicates the fullness of the times, the glorious reign of Christ, and then the great eternities set in, when God shall be all in all.

It is well to approach this subject reverently, humbly, and apart from controversy. The Bible we shall regard throughout as the authoritative revelation of God concerning His dealings with men. We shall turn neither to the right hand nor to the left to defend the statements of the Word of God. At the outset, however, there are certain principles to which assent must be given, in order to a true understanding of the whole scheme of these studies.