| The Christian Life | February 1945 |
Hallowed Friendship
Peace With God
“Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”—James 4:8
JAMES assures us that God is willing to be friendly toward those who in faith and sincerity manifest their confidence in Him by a single-hearted endeavor to do His will. Hand cleansing and heart purifying signify the bringing of both our actions and our thoughts and motives into harmony with God’s standards of righteousness in so far as possible. In principle, the admonition applies to those who are approaching God, and also to the consecrated who have become lax in their devotion to Him. It results in the attitude expressed by the Apostle Paul when he wrote, “This one thing I do.” (Phil. 3:13) It is, to state the thought in other words, the condition of full consecration to know and do God’s will.
To those who are thus wholeheartedly for the Lord, James gives the assurance that God will draw near to them. He will not hold aloof but will manifest His friendship by taking them into His confidence, revealing His plans and purposes, and caring for their needs. David expresses a somewhat similar thought, saying, “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” (Psalm 34:18) God resisteth the proud of heart, the self-willed; but those who, by the spirit of full consecration, manifest humility of heart and faith in God, are blessed by Him—blessed, in due time, with salvation.
“The secret of the Lord is with them that fear [reverence] Him” (Psa. 25:14), is another Scripture which teaches the same fundamental principle, showing that God waits for the sinner to approach Him in full contrition, faith and consecration before He bestows the favor of His friendship and co-operation.
By nature the entire human race is alienated from God. They are cast off from His favor and under condemnation to death. Were it not for His loving provision to restore the fallen race to His favor and to life there would seem to be no good reason why He should manifest interest in any individual member of the human family. But since He has made such a provision, and thus indicates that He loves the people even though they are imperfect and dying, He gives us the assurance that those who draw nigh to Him and show their desire to please Him are granted special favors. The nature of these favors depends upon the age in which the favored ones are living and the particular place God may have for them in His plan.
In the 11th chapter of Hebrews we are presented with a long list of those whom God favored prior to the first advent of Jesus. These were blessed by God while they lived, and died in the faith of being even more richly blessed by participating in a “better resurrection.” (Heb. 11:35,40) The first on this list is Abel. Upon the basis of faith, he offered a sacrifice which was acceptable to God. It was not a sacrifice that could take away sin, but God was pleased with it because it manifested a true spirit of faith and devotion on the part of Abel, and because He could use it to point forward to the perfect sacrifice of Jesus which was to take away the sin of the world. Abel pleased God by his act of faith.
By faith Enoch walked with God. This denotes that Enoch was on friendly terms with God, and the basis of that friendship was his faith. He believed God and ordered his life accordingly, and God drew near to him; so near that they walked together. We can think of no closer relationship than the one thus described. Could any of us today aspire to a richer, more blessed present heritage than to have the privilege of walking with God?
“A Preacher of Righteousness”
Noah was another one who had great faith in God and who manifested his faith by a spirit of full devotion to the doing of God’s will. He is styled “a preacher of righteousness.” (II Pet. 2:5) We cannot suppose that God would use one to preach righteousness who did not himself have a standing of righteousness. Evidently, as it is said of another of God’s faithful servants of old, Noah believed God, and “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (Gal. 3:6) We know that this was true of Abraham, for it was concerning him that the apostle wrote these words.
How high a premium God places upon faith! This is understandable, for if we were to make a selection from a large number of people of a few whom we desired to take into our friendship and confidence, we would certainly not choose those who did not trust us or were unable to put confidence in anything we might say. Mutual confidence is one of the first essentials of friendship.
God has confidence in those who have full confidence in Him. This is true even with respect to members of the fallen and condemned race. The fact that they believe Him does not, of course, remove their imperfection. They are still unable to extricate themselves from the miry clay of sin; but their faith is accounted unto them by God for righteousness, and He takes them into the circle of His friendship just as though they were actually perfect.
In the Scriptures this position of favor with God is described by the English word, “justification.” In the Greek, it has the thought of being innocent. In the Old Testament, the terms justify, justified, justifying, are translated from a Hebrew word meaning “to be made right.” This is essentially the same thought as that given in the New Testament. If one is innocent it means that there is nothing wrong with him; and if he has been made right with God, it means that he is innocent. It is important to notice, though, that this innocency, or right condition, is merely a reckoned one. Abraham was not actually righteous, but his faith “was accounted to him for righteousness.” His faith and confidence in God was of such a genuine character that had his flesh not been fallen and imperfect, he would have rendered perfect obedience. Therefore God dealt with him as though this were actually so.
Rahab Justified
James says of Rahab—the woman who befriended the two spies who were sent to Jericho by Joshua—that she was justified by her works. (James 2:25) James’ argument is that faith is manifested by works; so back of Rahab’s works was a living faith in God which enabled her to take a stand on His side and to co-operate with Him in connection with the overthrow of Jericho. She was not made right by her faith in the sense of being made perfect, but she took her stand on the Lord’s side, the right side, and because of this she was highly favored by God and given a place among the ancient worthies.
So we might go through the entire list of Old Testament servants of God and find that the same principle operated with all of them. By their faith and works they drew near to God, and He drew near to them. They became friends of God and He was a friend to them—a friend who drew closer than a brother and remained steadfast in His loyalty to those who fully believed Him.
But in all these illustrations of the principle set forth in our text, another very wonderful trait of the divine character is manifested. The ancient worthies were God’s friends. He fellowshiped with them; made promises to them; walked and talked with them; used them in His service; strengthened them in their times of need; but nevertheless, He let them die. He did not give them life. Why? Simply because to do so would have been in violation of His justice.
God had sentenced the human race to death through Adam. All were under condemnation. That sentence could not be forgiven nor set aside without a ransom. Nothing was said in the sentence about anything except death. God did not say that He would not be friendly with any member of the dying race until a ransom was paid. It was no infraction of His justice to walk and talk with individuals of the fallen human family who had confidence in Him and who displayed their faith by their works. And the Scriptures refer to this friendly relationship as justification.
The New Testament gives us an illustration somewhat similar in nature. It is that of the publican who went up to the temple to pray. At the same time a Pharisee also prayed in the temple. The Pharisee was proud, looked down on the publican and thanked the Lord that he was so much better than this poor sinner. The publican, on the other hand, acknowledged his sin, asked for mercy, and thereby manifested a proper spirit of humiliation before God. The Scriptures say that this publican left the temple justified.
Surely, the publican was not released from the condemnation of death. No, what occurred was that he had drawn near to God in the true spirit of penitence and humility, and to that degree, God had drawn near to Him. In other words, God was pleased with the publican’s contrite heart. Having thus manifested his desire to be in harmony with God, God no longer held aloof from him, but stood ready to show him mercy and favor. It would seem likely that later this publican may have become one of the disciples of Christ and at Pentecost was begotten of the Holy Spirit. It is those who have the characteristics of the publican whom God favors with the high calling.
New Phase of Divine Plan
As we have already seen, apparently the only reason God looks with favor upon any member of the fallen race and invites them into His fellowship, is because He is working out a plan for the ultimate recovery of all mankind from sin and death. The friendly relationship into which He entered with the ancient worthies was predicated upon the provisions of His plan; but the preliminary part which they played in the plan of salvation did not necessitate that they should be released from the condemnation of death, so the term justification as applied to them, did not mean life as yet. It did mean, however, that they were pleasing to God and became His friends, and as such, would be rewarded with life in the future.
But with the beginning of the Gospel age a new phase of the divine plan was introduced. Now those invited to co-operate in the plan were to have higher privileges of service and were inspired with the hope of a higher calling, even to a heavenly inheritance. The basic principles of approach to God did not change. It was, and still is true, that He draws nigh to those who draw nigh to Him. It is still true that He enters into friendly relationship with such. It is still true that He walks and talks with them. It is still true that He reveals to them the secrets of His plan as they become due to be understood.
But He now does more than all of these things. He uses them in a larger, more vital service, so His drawing nigh to them means much more than it could have meant to the faithful who lived before our Lord came to this sin-cursed earth. Characteristic of the Gospel age is the work of sacrifice. Jesus was the first to offer meritorious sacrifice. He gave Himself and His unforfeited human life for the sins of the whole world. His disciples are invited to follow His example of sacrifice; but unlike Him, they are imperfect, and therefore have no unforfeited life to give. They are invited to do that which would be impossible for them to do irrespective of their degree of faith in and devotion to God, were it not for the fact that God has made provision for their lack.
This is the provision of the blood of Christ. The death of the perfect man Jesus as man’s Redeemer forms a basis for a hope of life for every member of the human family. This means that every one who comes to God since Christ died, and in simple faith believes in the provision of life made through Christ, may reasonably expect to be restored to life upon this earth when God’s due time arrives for the work of restitution.
This hope of life through Christ is of meritorious value to every believer, which, when credited to his account by God gives him “somewhat to offer” in sacrifice. It makes possible his participation in the work of sacrifice to which he has been called. It gives him a standing of life. By faith he is alive and can offer a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.—Rom. 12:1
The Christian is no more devoted to God than were the ancient worthies. But God has a different work for Christians, and deals with them from a spiritual standpoint, hence makes a provision for them which was not necessary for the ancient worthies. For the followers of the Master, God has provided the merit of the shed blood, hence justification to them means a release from the condemnation of death and a standing of life in Christ. True, they die, but their death is sacrificial, a part of the “better sacrifices” of this Gospel age.—Heb. 9:23
The Scriptural Use
Words are merely a vehicle of thought. God’s thoughts are so much higher than our thoughts that the words invented by man do not always convey the thoughts of God as clearly as we would like. There is a danger sometimes of insisting, without Scriptural authority that certain terms and expressions must be understood as having one meaning only and that it always applies in precisely the same way. There are very few words, indeed, that are used in such a limited sense. We think that all the Lord’s people can safely use any word in the same variety of ways as it is used in the Scriptures. Surely we can not improve on the inspired use of words, nor should we feel that the Holy Spirit’s use of words leads to confusion. We have seen that the Scriptures use the terms justify, justified and justification as applying to believers who were not Christians, on behalf of whom the blood of Christ was not imputed, and who were not given a standing of life on the same basis as the church, and who could not, therefore, be joint-sacrificers with Christ.
We have seen, furthermore, that these enjoyed the favor of God as fully and unstintingly—although manifested in a different way—as do sacrificing Christians of this age. While there seems to be little difference in the basic meaning of the term justification as used in the Scriptures, there is a vast difference in its application and the ends to which it leads. With the ancient worthies it meant friendship with God, and all that true friendship implies. With the followers of Jesus it means a standing of life through the merit of Christ, hence makes possible the offering of an acceptable sacrifice to God.
To the Christian, justification means even more than this. The hope of perfect human life through Christ is offered in sacrifice; and in return the Christian is begotten to a new life as a son of God. If faithful in the work of sacrifice even unto death, he will become a son of God on the divine plane. All Christians are friends of God, yes, but they also become sons from the time they are accepted by God, which could not be said of the ancient worthies, because they had to remain under the condemnation of death until the ransom was provided.
How Christians are Justified
Paul declares that “it is God that justifieth.” (Rom. 8:33 ) True enough. In the final analysis God is the source of our justification in that He is the Author of the arrangement whereby we obtain His friendship, but it is essential to comply with the arrangements He has made to draw nigh to Him else He will not draw nigh to us. On our part there is the necessity of a genuine faith. We are justified by faith, the Scriptures declare; and also it is “by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.”—Rom. 3:24; James 2:24
The faith and works which justify, as mentioned by James, are not those of the Lord, but our own. If there were no further information in the Scriptures on the subject we might suppose that our faith and works are all that are needed to attain justification. We know, however, that no matter how unswerving our faith and how sincere and zealous our works, there is something that God has to do before we are accepted into the circle of His friends. We can draw near to Him, but unless He draws near to us we cannot enjoy the benefits of His favor. However, Jesus gives us an assurance of our acceptance if our faith in Him is real.—John 6:37
The purpose of justification during the Gospel age is to give the justified a standing of life in order that they may have the wherewithal to offer an acceptable sacrifice. That’s why the atoning work of Christ is essential to our justification. The Scriptures indicate that we are justified by Christ’s blood; also by His resurrection. We are also told that He “appeared in the presence of God for us.” (Heb. 9:24; Rom. 8:34) These are not contradictory thoughts, for they all blend into and substantiate the one idea that the justification of the church during this Gospel age is possible only through the atoning work of Christ. This work was accomplished by His death, His resurrection, and His appearing in the presence of God with the merit of His sacrifice.
So we have three cardinal factors which enter into our return to the favor of God. First, God’s arrangement, or plan, whereby it could be possible; then Jesus’ atoning work as the provision of God’s plan; and finally our acceptance of that provision through wholehearted compliance with God’s will. The matter is summed up beautifully by the apostle in the well-known text, “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”—Romans 5:1
Justification Means Peace
Probably the simplest definition of justification we can have is that suggested by the apostle—“peace with God.” The world of sinners is alienated from God through wicked works. His back is turned upon them. They do not enjoy His favor. But it is different with those who through faith and obedience draw near to God. He lifts up His countenance upon them and gives them peace. He draws near to them, reveals to them those features of His plan which are “meat in due season,” and invites them to co-operate in His purposes. They become His friends.
This was true of Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and all the ancient worthies. It is true of consecrated Christians now. As we have already seen, the difference in our position is not that of justification itself, but of that to which it leads. In our case it leads to life, hence is properly referred to as “justification to life.” The word justification itself does not include the thought of life. With us, justification leads to the “hope of the glory of God,” but the word itself does not mean the hope of the glory of God.—Rom. 5:2
Justification means peace with God, established upon a basis of innocency which God recognizes because of a genuine faith in Him and a sincere effort to please Him. It is a condition of right, or righteousness established by faith—faith and obedience proving that the individual would be perfect if he could. Here is the simple fact of justification, that blessed condition of peace with God that results from drawing near to Him and His drawing near to us. From here on it is a matter of how God enlists the co-operation of the justified ones.
His method of calling these into His service is different from the method He used for enlisting the co-operation of the ancient worthies. During this age the call is a general one, sent forth through a proclamation of the Gospel. With the vast majority of the people the message falls on deaf ears. But there is one here and there who hears with appreciation. These are the ones who are seeking after God, “if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him.”—Acts 17:27
When they hear the truth they are made glad. They take it to heart, ponder over its implications; and under its influence they begin to draw near to God, whose love the truth reveals. Then God begins to draw near to them. He is pleased with their reaction to the Gospel, and by His providences, begins to direct their course that they may come more and more under the influence of the truth.
Neither on the part of the one accepting the truth, nor on God’s part, is the drawing near complete until the individual reaches the point of full faith and confidence which results in his entire devotion to the will of God. Up to this point, the measure of God’s favor extended to him is tentative, in the sense that it is subject to withdrawal if the individual does not continue drawing near to Him.
Likewise, the attitude of one who is in the act of drawing near to God may, through opposition discouragement, fail to crystallize into a full and permanent consecration of himself to do God’s will. He is in the right way, following the proper course, doing what he is able to do in order to reach the point of full fellowship and peace with God. But not until he reaches the point of full surrender, of complete consecration, does God accept him into His family circle by begetting him to sonship. Not until then does he have full peace with God described by Paul in Romans 5:1.
Object of God’s Acceptance
The only reason for which God calls an individual through the truth during this age is that he may become a joint-sacrificer with Jesus. This is the will of God for such, hence all who consecrate themselves to do God’s will have the merit of Christ applied on their behalf to enable them to perform the service which they have covenanted to do. To these, therefore, their peace with God means also their release from condemnation to death, and the opportunity of entering into the further grace or favor of entertaining the hope of the glory of God.
Here again, then, we see in operation the principle expressed in our text—that God draws near to those who draw near to Him. There is something for us to do, and there is something for God to do before we can be at peace with Him, and be accepted as co-workers in His plan. His acceptance, in our case, implies induction into the body of Christ, and Paul declares that there is no condemnation toward those who are in Christ Jesus. Jesus has fulfilled His part, and if we fulfill ours, then God justifies, and when God justifies, who is he that condemneth?
But the poet has well said,
“Ne’er think the victory won,
Nor once at ease sit down;
Thine arduous work will not be done,
Till thou has gained thy crown.”
None of the Lord’s people realize fully at the time of their consecration all that is involved in a life lived wholly for God. There is a work of sanctification, or setting apart, which continues as the days go by.
We are accepted by God, and the merit of Christ has been imputed to us, but it is by no means a case of being “once in grace, always in grace.” God can, and will, withdraw His favor if our consecration lapses into indifference. He can and will draw away from us if we draw away from Him even as He can and will draw near to us if we draw near to Him. Thus, even our release from condemnation through the blood of Christ is granted to us conditionally, subject to our continued faithfulness in carrying out the vows of our consecration.
The Lord declares, “If any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him.” (Heb. 10:38) If after receiving the full benefits of Christ’s sacrifice the drawing back and consequent loss of God’s favor is permanent, it means the loss of life, even of the hope of life in the times of restitution. (Heb. 6:4-6) “Christ … dieth no more,” and those who accept the gift of life provided by His death, and then count the blood of Christ an unholy thing, lose everything.—Heb. 10:29
Peace with God through Restitution
During the times of restitution the same principle of drawing nigh to God and of His drawing nigh to the people will operate. The merit of Christ will actually be applied on behalf of the world and not like it is now being imputed to the church. Mankind will be dealt with through the Christ and given the assistance necessary to enable them to attain absolute perfection in the flesh.
Thus, fully consecrated at heart, and perfect in mind and body, they will be able to measure up to the perfect law of God. Thereafter, keeping His law inviolate and enthusiastically they will have His favor and blessing forever. It is thus that God will then draw near to them, blessing them with life everlasting, not because righteousness has been accounted to them, but because they have attained actual righteousness. Those who, in the next age, fail to draw near to God through Christ as the Mediator, will lose the gift of life provided for them through the ransom, and will go into the second death.
How wonderful is the love of God! A love that has made provision for the reconciliation of a race alienated from Him; a love that is willing to consider the heart intentions of the imperfect as representing a righteousness which commends them to His favor! May His love inspire us to greater appreciation of the peace we enjoy with Him, and a greater determination to draw nearer and nearer to Him that we may be more like Him.