| The Christian Life | December 1940 |
Spiritual Beheading
“And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God.”—Revelation 20:4
THE history of the early Church reveals that only comparatively few were literally beheaded. All the apostles of Jesus, with the exception of Paul, died by other means than beheading. Stephen, the first martyr, was stoned to death; some were crucified as was our Lord Himself; others were fed to the lions, while many others suffered death by being burned at the stake. It must therefore be conceded that the beheading referred to in our text is not literal beheading, but that the language is symbolic, as, indeed, is the case with most of the Book of Revelation, from which this text is taken.
The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:22,23, speaks of the true Church as the body of Christ, and in Ephesians 5:30, says, “For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones; for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and His church.” This has indeed been a mystery which has remained hidden for many centuries. The promise of the Lord, however, is that the time would come when it would no longer remain a mystery, and that at that time “the mystery of God should be finished.” Paul further illustrates this mystery with the human body, saying “For as the body [the human body] hath many members, and all these members constitute but one body, so also is the Christ [the mystical body of Christ].”
All those who have made a full consecration to the will of God and have been begotten of His Holy Spirit have become members of this mystical body of Christ and must become dead to their own wills and desires. From henceforth their chief aim, desire and purpose must be to do the Lord’s will, the will of their new Head. Thus the wife loses her own name and accepts the name and headship of her husband, so each one who becomes a member in this mystical body, must lose their own individuality, their will, their head. From henceforth their prayers shall be “Not my will but Thine be done”! It is this self-surrender to Christ on the part of His church: that is represented in the symbolism of the text under consideration.
“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” and it is fidelity to the spirit of truth, the spirit of Christ, working in us, in conjunction with the Word of God, “the exceeding great and precious promises,” that will work upon us to, effect the change from our own wills to the will of Christ—beheading us, making us dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The opposite course, then, would be to follow the inclinations of the flesh by doing our own wills, and following our own selfish desires, rather than the Lord’s will. The apostle warns against this course of action, when he speaks of headiness and high-mindedness.
There is no intimation here of rendering obedience to any man, nor any indication that any individual would have the authority to arrogantly assume the position where he demands obedience to his dictates as being the will or voice of the Lord.
Those, however, who are governed by the Word of the Lord, and who have no fear of man„ will not be disturbed by any such sophistries. “One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.” We must always consider the headship of our Lord; and the provision which He makes for the body is what in every instance is to be sought, and not what man may scheme or do for self-exaltation.
Let us then, as many of us as have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him, keep the Lord always before us, looking unto Him who is the Author and Finisher of our faith. Let us not endeavor to curry favor with the world, and at the same time, serve the Lord, for it is written that a “double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
When the work of selecting this anointed company is complete, and the last member will have finished his course with joy, then will also the sin-sick and war-weary humanity seek the Lord, and all “shall know Him from the least, even unto the greatest.” Then will be fulfilled that which John saw and heard in vision, and which he so beautifully describes in these words: “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come and His wife [the church] hath made herself ready.”