| The Christian Life | July 1940 |
Who Hath Believed Our Report?
“Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?”—Isaiah 53:1
THE title, “arm of the Lord,” is one of the many which the Scriptures apply to our Lord Jesus. It suggests the thought of His being the active agent of the Creator in accomplishing His loving designs toward the children of men in Verse 10 of the preceding chapter, the “arm of the Lord” is referred to in a way that indicates the final triumph of the Divine Plan in the earth. We quote, “The Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” In Verse 13 of the same chapter the “arm of the Lord” is referred to as His servant. The statement reads, “Behold, My servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.”
It is following these statements describing the high exaltation of the “arm of the Lord,” and. the great success He will attain in bringing salvation to all the ends of the earth, that the prophet raises the question found in our text—“Who hath believed our report?” and, “to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” He had just finished recording the statement of victory and glory already noted, in which it is declared that the “arm of the Lord” is made bare in the eyes of all the nations; and that all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. But as the Holy Spirit continues to outline the message which the prophet records, there is a change made apparent. Instead of the Lord’s arm being revealed to all, and His salvation being accepted and appreciated by the nations, there seems to be a question as to whether any one really accepts such a report. To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? the prophet inquires. This indicates that, for the time being, there was a question as to whether He would be revealed to any one in the sense of their appreciating Him and the glorious salvation which He was commissioned to bring to the human family.
By comparing these two viewpoints relative to the “arm of the Lord,” as the prophet has thus expressed them, we have another illustration of the necessity of “rightly dividing the Word of Truth.” When the prophet declares that the Lord will make bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, it is clear that He is describing a time yet future, when “every eye will see Him,” and when the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will fill the whole earth as the waters cover the sea.
On the other hand, when the question is raised, “Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” we have described for us the condition of unbelief on the part of the world of mankind which has caused all but the very few to reject the Gospel message of salvation as it centers in Christ Jesus. It is this condition of unbelief causing the vast majority to reject the Gospel message that has obtained throughout the Gospel age from our Lord’s first advent even until now.
This condition first manifested itself in connection with the Master’s own ministry. The prophet goes on to explain that Jesus was “despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” If the Master Himself was thus rejected of men, surely His followers cannot expect different treatment. If only the very few who had “ears to hear” received and appreciated the message as proclaimed to them by the One who spake as never a man spake, surely we should not expect different treatment by the world, nor think for a moment that we should be able to make the Truth so clear and plain that the multitudes will accept and obey it.
In Jesus’ day Satan was the “god of this world,” and it was his darkening influence in the hearts and minds of men which prevented their appreciating the message as it was presented to them by the Master. Because they were of the world and under the influence of Satan, who is the prince of the world, their minds were blinded. They loved darkness rather than the light. Because they loved darkness they were willing to persecute any and all who sought to let their light shine out in a darkened world.
JESUS EXPECTED MESSAGE TO BE REJECTED
Jesus, being thoroughly familiar with the prophetic outline of the work of the Gospel age, knew better than to expect that the multitudes would receive His message. He knew that only a limited few were to be the recipients of the Truth during this age of sacrifice and suffering. To His disciples He said, “Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.” From this statement it is apparent that Jesus knew full well that the time had not then come when the truth concerning Him and His Kingdom was to be made known to all the nations. He knew that the time had not come when the holy arm of the Lord would thus be made bare, that is, revealed, so that all would see and appreciate Him. He knew that the time was yet future when mankind as a whole would say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, … we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”—Isa. 25:9
Jesus further declared that His parables and teachings were not uttered with the intention of making the blind see and the deaf hear, but purposely so that the deaf might not hear, and that the blind might not see. When the disciples inquired respecting the interpretation of a parable, Jesus said, “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand.”—Mark 4:11,12; Luke 8:10
As our Lord did not expect many to respond to His preaching, and particularly implied that only a small number would be able to do so, saying, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him,” so His church throughout this age is to realize that when she lifts up the light and lifts up her voice, no man will come in response except as the Father draws him. And as the Father drew only a comparatively small remnant of the Jewish nation to our Lord, so the church should not be surprised that He has drawn only a comparatively small proportion of Gentiles throughout the entire age.
In making it plain to His disciples that they should not expect a wholehearted and general response of the world to the Kingdom message during this age, Jesus did not imply that all who thus failed to respond would be eternally lost. There is a due time in all of God’s arrangements. While only a “little flock” are saved during this age, and that in order for them to become joint. heirs with Christ in His Kingdom, nevertheless the Master made it plain that there were to be “other sheep,” not of this Gospel age “fold,” and that finally these, too, would he reached and blessed.
During this age the “god of this world hath blinded their minds” and thus has hindered the light of divine truth from shining into their hearts. But this handicap to seeing and appreciating the divine arrangement for salvation will not always obtain. The Scriptures tell us that at the beginning of the new age, Satan is to be bound. No longer will he be permitted to blind the eyes of the people. With Satan bound, the knowledge of the Lord will flow out freely through the Kingdom agencies, and then all the Satan-blinded eyes shall be opened to see the light of Divine goodness and truth; and all the deaf ears shall be unstopped to hear the message of the grace of God.—Isa. 35:5
DARKNESS HATETH THE LIGHT
Our Lord explains that the darkness of sin and error is in direct antagonism with the light of truth, and consequently when His people lift up the light—“Let your light so shine before men, that they may … glorify your Father which is in heaven”—the effect upon the darkened world will be to awaken opposition and antagonism; because the effect of the light is to make manifest the evils of darkness which would not otherwise appear; and thus to disturb and make uncomfortable those in sympathy with the darkness.
Consequently those who love darkness, those who love evil, those who love sin, in its varied forms, hate the light, neither do they come to the light, but either publicly or secretly oppose the children of the light, the enlightened ones, the lightbearers. It was in consequence of this conflict between light and darkness that our Lord suffered at the hands of those who professed to be children of the light.
Our Lord was not maltreated by the Roman governor and the Roman soldiers of their own volition, for they were so totally blind as not to appreciate anything of the light which He displayed. His persecutors, were, primarily, those who had some light, but who hated the brilliancy of the great light which shone upon them. In a similar way, all those down through the Gospel age who have been burning and shining lights in the world have been hated and persecuted.
As Jesus’ persecutors were those who had some truth, but who hated the brilliancy of the great light which He presented to them, so we find that those who have been burning and shining lights in the world down through the age have also been hated and persecuted chiefly by those who, at least, profess to have some light, but whose light is, in reality, darkness. Thus has been fulfilled our Lord’s testimony, “If they have hated Me, they will also hate you.” Again, “Whosoever will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” The Lord’s followers are still called upon to suffer persecution for righteousness sake. God’s purpose in permitting this is in order that He may prove and polish His people, in order that they might thus be proved worthy to serve His cause in the glorious future work of the Kingdom.
A REPORT TO BE GIVEN
The question in our text, “Who hath believed our report?” indicates that it was the Divine intention that a proclamation of the truth concerning Jesus and His Kingdom was to be given. It is in harmony with this that Jesus Himself proclaimed the message, and it is in harmony with this that He also commissioned His disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel as a witness. The fact that the report is not believed except by a very limited few during this age when Satan is the prince, is no reason why those who have been commissioned to give it should, in any way, hold it back or become discouraged in proclaiming it. The following paragraph from the January 1, 1899 Watch Tower is to the point:
“Let all give attention to this ministry (service) which we have received, and faint not; be not discouraged, whether men hear, or whether they forbear, whether they think ill of us or whether they speak ill of us; let us remember that our report at the end of the trial is to be rendered to the Lord Himself, when He is making up His jewels. Let us remember that the first condition of acceptance with Him is loyal obedience to His Word, the evidence of love for Him and faith in Him. (II Cor. 10:5,6) Let us remember, also, that the second qualification He will look for in us is love for the brethren, readiness to be, to do and to suffer, to die on behalf of those who are really, truly consecrated children of God, seeking to walk in His ways.”
We are not to get the thought that there are no results obtained from the ministry of the Truth. There is a genuine and important result; namely, the finding and preparation of the body members of Christ. It is the ministry of the Truth that accomplishes this main objective of the Gospel age. The work of the ministry itself is not secondary. It is in the result of the ministry that we are able to discern from God’s Word that there will be a primary and secondary work accomplished. The primary result will be the finding and building up of the body members of Christ, the secondary result will be the giving of a witness to the world in general—a witness which for the most part, will be rejected.
Thus it is that in bearing witness to the Truth, we are to keep in mind that thereby we are laying down our lives for the brethren. Many of these brethren we may not see nor know this side of the veil. Thus the greater faith is required on our part in order to continue faithfully in this ministry of the Truth, whereby we build one another up in the most holy faith.
Even if our efforts in bearing witness to the Truth bring no other result, they will be a great blessing to us, in that such efforts are sure to enhance our own appreciation of the Truth, and should bring home to us with greater reality than could otherwise be possible, the importance Of yielding ourselves to the influence of the message which we proclaim. Besides, if we do not bear witness to the Truth, there is no likelihood that we will ever receive very much persecution from the world. If we do not, therefore, suffer with Christ, we lack this “witness of the spirit, that we are the children of God.” We quote another paragraph from the article in the January 1899 Watch Tower:
“We might multiply the Scriptural declarations that this is the call of the church in the present time—to let the light shine and thus to attract persecution, and to endure the persecution for righteousness sake, and to be rightly exercised by it in patience, brotherly kindness, pity and love—toward the persecutors and toward all men.”
FOLLOWING IN THE MASTER’S FOOTSTEPS
There is a danger of our losing sight of the fact that to follow in the footsteps of Jesus implies faithfulness in reporting the Kingdom message by letting our light shine. The truly consecrated church of Christ, all “whose names are written in heaven,” are His representative members upon the earth, throughout this Gospel age. As such, we should endeavor to be like Him in all things. The Head suffered 1900 years ago, the members of the Body have since been suffering with Him, and have been learning the same lesson of obedience to the Divine will, and trust and confidence in the Divine wisdom. These thoughts should be kept very clearly in mind by all of the consecrated at this time when the final dark night of the world’s trouble is settling down upon the nations. Unquestionably many of the Lord’s people will yet be called upon to demonstrate their loyalty and faithfulness to God and His Truth in ways more severe than some of us may have been anticipating. The possibility of this should not disturb us. Indeed, we should rejoice in the prospect of thus sharing more directly in the experiences of our Lord and Master. But whatever the future may hold for us, let us seek to be, indeed, like Him in sympathy and kindness for all those who are in darkness. Let us be like Him in submission to the Divine will, “humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt us in due time.” We believe that very timely suggestions along this line are given in the following paragraphs quoted from the July 1, 1905 Watch Tower:
“He was oppressed, as a lamb He was led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before her shearers is dumb; yet He opened not His mouth. The fulfillment of this we see in the case of our Lord. Had He chosen to open His mouth, to argue His case, to defend Himself, we may well suppose that the scribes and Pharisees, high priests and doctors of the law, Pilate and his soldiers and the Jewish rabble, would have succumbed to the eloquence of Him who spoke as never man spoke. Thus He might merely have defended Himself with His tongue, and righteously, too, without ever moving a finger in His own defense, or exercising any of the divine powers deposited in Him, or calling for any of the legions of angels who would have responded to His prayer. He did indeed reply to a question of the High Priest and also to a question by Pilate, but He was dumb so far as making any plea or endeavoring in any manner to deliver Himself from the death which He perceived was upon Him and which He knew was permitted of the Father. As He Himself expressed it: ‘The cup which the Father hath poured for Me, shall I not drink it?’”
“We must not lose sight of the fact that our dear Redeemer is also our pattern and that we are to walk in His steps. The lesson to us, then, is full submission to Divine providence in respect to all of our affairs—those which we see clearly and understand and those also which are obscure to us, some of which at times may seem unnecessary. Our faith must triumph; we must learn that our Father is too wise to err, and that He loves us too much to cause a needless tear, a needless pang. But if He permitted severe afflictions to come upon His Son, His well beloved and only One, that He might be tested and proven in respect to His loyalty to the last degree, shall we wonder that in calling us to be associates of that Son in glory, He would require of us also that we should learn obedience by the things we suffer? Gladly then, says the Apostle, will we suffer; gladly will we take this as an evidence that we are in the hands of the Lord and that He is shaping and fashioning us according to the glorious pattern, that we may ultimately be participants also of the heavenly glories and joys and immortality promised to His faithful.”
Let us then, dear brethren, continue on faithfully in our endeavors to be “witnesses for Jesus and for the Word of God.” When the Apostle John was given a vision of those who finally were victorious and who through their victory attained a position with Jesus in His Kingdom, he identifies them as those who had laid down their lives—were beheaded—“for the witness of Jesus.” Let us realize then that it is our privilege as ambassadors for Christ to continue letting our light shine until the darkness of the world’s trouble makes it impossible further to bear witness to the Kingdom message.
But let us do this, not with the thought of accomplishing some great work for the Lord, because the Lord’s great work of converting the world is yet future, when all the blind eyes shall be opened and all the deaf ears shall be unstopped. Let us be faithful in the witness work; reporting the truth concerning Jesus and His Kingdom, because God has commissioned us to do it. The spirit of the Lord God is upon us in order that we may bear witness to His Truth. If we hold back in unfaithfulness it means that we are quenching the Holy Spirit of God by which we are anointed to proclaim the glad tidings. Let us then resolve, dear brethren, that discouraging experiences, lack of visible result, persecution, or whatever obstacles may stand in the way of our faithfulness, we will, by God’s grace, surmount them all and continue to tell of God’s great love through Christ until He has clearly demonstrated that such efforts are no longer necessary. And then let us continue to remain faithful to Him until we hear His “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joys of Thy Lord.”