07.02. The Message Of The New Testament
THE MESSAGE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
If the Old Testament is occupied with the Will of God as its supreme subject, the New Testament is in all its parts an unveiling and exposition thereof, both as to nature and possibility. For the purpose of a general survey, we shall divide the New Testament into its three principal sections of historic, didactic, and prophetic books. These include 1. Historic. The Gospels and Acts.
2. Didactic. The Epistles.
3. Prophetic. The Revelation. In the first we have the story of the life of Jesus, and the first chapter in His larger life resulting from the work He accomplished. Also His teaching, containing unified truth, which became clear in the subsequent light of the Spirit’s teaching. In the second we have the unfolding of truth for the individual believer and the Church, by men indwelt and inspired by the Holy Spirit. In the third we have, for the most part, visions of the closing scenes of the present dispensation and the accomplishment of Divine purposes through Divine power. In all of these the subject is the Will of God. The life of Jesus realized it, and His teaching declared its nature and necessity. The men whose doings are recorded in the Acts lived wholly in, and only for, that Will. The consummation of all is the triumph of righteousness and love by the complete submission of humanity thereto.
I. Historic.
Taking these in the order named, we come first to the historic books. The roots of the New are in the Old. We therefore go back to the Psalms for the keynote of these books. “Sacrifice and offering Thou hast no delight in; mine ears hast Thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast Thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I am come; in the roll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do Thy will, O my God.” None will deny that this belongs to the New Testament, for we are agreed that these words had their perfect fulfilment in the person and experience of Jesus.
Underlying everything in the fourfold Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is the perpetual sounding of this note of perfect music, “I delight to do Thy will, O my God.” In the life of Jesus it was the reason for all He did, and the inspiration of all He said. Whether living as a boy in His mother’s home, or working as a man at His trade of carpenter; whether going to the Jordan for baptism, or to the wilderness for temptation; whether preaching to the crowds, or working wonders of love among the needy - His life was perpetually filled with delight in the Will of God. Once only in the history of the human race has there been a life true to the Divine ideal. That was the life of Jesus. When His mother found Him in the Temple, He said to her, “Wist ye not that I must be in My Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49). His Father’s Will for Him was that He should be a disciple among the teachers of His people, and that was the explanation of His tarrying behind at Jerusalem. When He faced and overcame temptation, He did so in the strength of the fact that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). And when His disciples urged Him upon one occasion to eat, He replied, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to accomplish His work” (John 4:34). He needed bread; but the supreme necessity was that He should do the Will of God. That was the sustenance of His deepest life. In reply to the criticisms of His enemies, He dared to say, “He that sent Me is with Me; He hath not left Me alone; for I do always the things that are pleasing to Him” (John 8:29). The Will of God was equally the sum and substance of His teaching. Indeed, it is impossible to separate between His teaching and Himself. He said, “I am the Truth,” not “I teach the truth.” When I see what He is, I know what He is going to teach me; and when I hear what He teaches, I know what He is. His Sermon on the Mount is the Magna Charta of the Will of God, the most wonderful words that ever fell on the ears of man.
“Happy!” (Matthew 5:3). That is the first of them, and it is the keynote of all that follows, declaring immediately what is the Will of God for man. In solemn words He sets the doing of that Will at the very wicket of the kingdom, not as password - there are no words that will pass men into heaven’s kingdom - but as the condition upon which men may enter: “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21); and closes with that most wonderful claim for Himself, “Every one, therefore, which heareth these words of Mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, which built his house upon the rock” (Matthew 7:24).
Thus the Gospels unveil the perfect ideal in life and teaching of the man who does the Will of God. The Acts of the Apostles opens with the significant words, “The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach” (Acts 1:1). The reference Luke makes to a “former treatise” is of course to his Gospel, and he declares that Gospel to be the story of beginnings only. The inference is that the second treatise is a story of continuation; and this we discover to be so as we read, for the history is one of the doing of the Will of God by Spirit-filled men. What men they were! They moved the world! Study that wonderful fifth chapter. What a state the priests were in! Nothing so troubles the priest as to come in contact with men doing the Will of God. They said to Peter and the rest, “We straitly charged you not to teach in this name: and behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your teaching” (Acts 5:28). There is no finer testimony to apostolic work on record. A mere handful of men had filled Jerusalem with their teaching, and it was teaching that gripped, for the priests continued-“and intend to bring this Man’s blood upon us” (Acts 5:28). In Peter’s answer, in a brief sentence he reveals the secret of these phenomena that so perplexed and baffled the priests, “We must obey God!” (Acts 5:29). That is the secret. These men shook kingdoms to their foundations and turned the world upside down, their enemies being witness; and the reason of their success lay in their abandonment to the Will of God.
II. Didactic.
Turning to the didactic writings, we find the same great theme in all. Take illustrations from the writings of Peter, James, and John.
1. PETER. “Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that ye no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God” (1 Peter 4:1-2). That is Peter’s conception of the meaning of the Christ-life.
2. JAMES. “Go to now, ye that say, today or tomorrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. What is your life? For ye are a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall both live, and do this or that” (James 4:13-15). James does not deny that we have to make arrangements for today and tomorrow. He insists that concerning them all we should say, “If the Lord will.”
3. JOHN. “The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (John 2:17). John declares the Will of God to be the place of permanence, and all outside that Will is doomed to perish. From these turn to the Pauline letters, and still the theme is the same: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2). The apostle’s object in calling us to surrender ourselves is that we may prove the goodness, acceptability, and perfectness of the Will of God.
“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray and make request for you, that ye may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9). That is the burden of his prayer-not for Colossian believers only, but also for all those in whom he was interested. The distinctive glory of the letter to the Hebrews is that it deals with the bringing in of “better things” which shall make men “perfect in every good thing to do His will” (Hebrews 13:21). Jude looks forward in his doxology to that day in which the Church shall be presented “before the presence of His glory without blemish in exceeding joy” (Jude 1:24).
All these writers agree, that the Will of God fulfilled in human life is the purpose of Christ in His people, and through His people in the world.
III. Prophetic.
Lastly, we turn to the prophetic book of the Revelation. Of this there are many interpretations, but there are points of perfect agreement. To one of these we now come. “And the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God that sitteth on the throne, saying, Amen; Hallelujah. And a voice came forth from the throne, saying, Give praise to our God, all ye His servants, ye that fear Him, the small and the great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Hallelujah; for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth.” (Revelation 14:4-6).Differences of opinion exist as to the methods by which that glorious consummation is to be reached, but we all believe the time is coming when the Lord God Omnipotent shall reign and His Will be done. “Amen; Hallelujah.” These words reveal the source of the blessedness of that glad day. God on the throne, and humanity saying “Amen” in consent, and “Hallelujah” in praise.
We commenced this study in the Psalms. Let us return there for a moment in conclusion. “Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, to give thanks unto Thy holy name, and to triumph in Thy praise. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel from everlasting even to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen, Hallelujah” (Psalms 106:47-48, margin). Now read again the song of the Apocalypse, “And the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God that sitteth on the throne, saying, Amen; Hallelujah” (Revelation 14:4). Ransomed and redeemed humanity saying “Amen” so be it, to the Will of God; and after the Amen, “Hallelujah” praise the Lord. That is the consummation. The Old prays for it; the New predicts and prepares for it. We may dream dreams of its splendour, but no dream can compass the reality, it is too great. Humanity, in every beating pulse, every fibre of its being, every drawing breath, saying “Amen” to the Will of God, “Hallelujah” to His government. Thus Old and New, the one Bible, declares that the Divine Will is the only law of human life that satisfies the heart of God and ensures the well-being of man. This very fact is that which gives supreme importance to Holy Scripture, and should condition all attempts to study it. There is, undoubtedly, room for devout criticism, study of the question of dates, and authorship; and there should ever be the widest toleration for different interpretations of many of the mysteries dealt with, which are, after all, beyond the possibility of full and final statement. To treat the Bible, however, as literature merely, or to read it with a view to formulating certain systems of belief, is to fail to realize its highest value, or to touch its deepest significance. On its every page there is unfolded something of the Divine order, method, and purpose in the government of man. While the chronicles reveal the fault and failures of sinning men, all through there moves the Spirit of God, revealing the fact of His Kingship; and in every message of Psalmist, Seer, or Prophet, there is the unmistakable call to loyalty and obedience.
It is only as this is remembered, and the study of the Book is approached with sincere desire to discover the purpose of God in human life, and the laws which make that purpose possible of realization, that the Book answers its highest intention.