| The Christian Life | January 1946 |
Love on Trial
Many Cold … Few Faithful
“Because iniquity shall be multiplied the love of the many shall wax cold.”—Matthew 24:12
IT IS evident that our Lord is not here speaking of the world, for the world does not have this love. It is the church of whom Jesus is speaking; it is only the church with whom God is now dealing. As new creatures, God’s children have seen a great Light, Christ Jesus. Through this Light we have ourselves become illuminated, and we seek to let our light shine before men. We are not lighted candles to shed light upon others until we have become the Lord’s, until we have received of his light.
The Bible declares that all men are by nature sinners, unworthy of God’s notice. But he has made a provision of everlasting life for the perfect. How, then, will any member of our sinner race ever get everlasting life? Surely none of the children of Adam are worthy of everlasting life! The Lord, however, has provided for this emergency through the death of Christ. During the Gospel age God has been delivering from death a certain class. During the incoming Millennial age, he will lift up and make perfect the world of mankind. But only at the close of that age, after they have been finally tested, will God grant them, if worthy, everlasting life. If they fail to attain perfection, he will not give them everlasting life at all, but will destroy them.
Unique Arrangement for the Present Age
The church is an especially called-out class. “Ye are not of the world, even as I am not of the world,” said the Master. “I have chosen you out of the world.” Mankind in general are in a different heart attitude from those who come into the church. It is only the minority who now hunger and thirst after righteousness. God in mercy keeps back the truth from those to whom it would not in the present time be a blessing. This class that the Lord is now calling out from the world are “called to be saints.”
The word saint stands for one who is holy. The word holy has the significance of the word whole—that which is entire, lacking nothing. God, who is holy, calls his children to be holy, saying, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” (I Pet. 1:16) But we were by nature unholy; hence his arrangement for our justification, our being made right, whole. The world in general will be made right during the Millennium. None is made right now in the actual sense.
In what way, then, does God make the church right now? Ah, there is the beauty of God’s plan! They are made right reckonedly, by the counting to each of them of the perfect merit of Christ. This is a unique arrangement, peculiar to the present age alone. God says, “My call at this time is an invitation to a new nature. I am not inviting any now to restitution; if so it would not be necessary to issue this special call. I want a certain class for a specific purpose, to be used later in blessing the whole world. I know of some who will be glad to respond. So I am sending my message, that those able to hear may hear.”
Wireless Telegraphy Illustrates Great Truth
We all know something of the wireless system of telegraphy. This is one of the blessings of this “day of the Lord’s preparation” for the incoming new age. It may serve as an illustration of how God has been sending out his truth during the Gospel age. If we would hear the Lord’s call, we must have coherers. If we do not have coherers, we cannot hear his message at all. We need to have responsive hearts, ready to receive with gladness the message of God’s love and mercy.
If your heart is not rightly in tune, you cannot understand; but as you get it in tune with the Lord, the message enters, and you can hear the wave tones. God speaks to us in tones of a certain character. We recognize those tones and respond if our heart is in the proper attitude. We had a wrong tone given us by the adversary—that God had damned the world, had made a place to eternally torture the majority of mankind. With that wrong tone given us, we were not in a position to get the true message. God’s true message is a glorious tune, a marvelous melody.
Finally we got the right tune from the Word of God. “I can hear better now,” we said. “Yes, yes; God is love!” “God so loved the world that he gave his Only Begotten Son.” “Like as a Father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth!” “Yes, I now understand something of the lengths and breadths and heights and depths of the love of God! It is too wonderful a symphony to fully comprehend, I cannot take it all in, but it is there. I am hearing it more and more clearly.”
Only those who get their hearts in tune with God can hear it all, and the more fully in tune you get your heart the better you can hear. If your instrument is out of tune, if something happens to get you out of touch with the heavenly electric wave, then you cannot hear the wonderful melody. If you do not keep in close touch with the Lord you will fail to catch the harmony. You are out of tune with the Infinite One.
Justice the Basic Quality of Character
What is the character of God that we are learning more about as we study his Word? We find that the very basis of God’s character is justice, absolute justice. If God were an unjust God, we could never depend upon him. He might make some term or condition today and then alter it tomorrow. But he is absolutely just; “Justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne.” (Psalm 89:14) He changes not; “I am Jehovah, I change not.” (Malachi 3:6) He is “the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” He will never fail us, he will never deceive. Whoever desires to be in proper tune with God must practice upon that string of JUSTICE. Justice must come into our heart and into our life. The nearer we come in line with justice, the better we shall understand and enter into the spirit of God’s great plan. We trust that is what we are striving to do.
But there are many ways of being unjust. We may say unjust things about our neighbors; we may make trifling faults appear to be great faults; we may color things unjustly. We may use words with a certain intonation or emphasis, with a shrug of the shoulders, giving a wrong impression which might be detrimental to the reputation of another. Although we might not really mean to wrong another, yet this course would be wrong, and might do incalculable harm. When you say, “I would not wish to be seen in that man’s company,” you might not mean to do wrong, and yet be guilty of slander. Your coherer is out of tune with God.
Then in the mind one might be unjust. Many people seem to become prejudiced against certain things or persons without just reason. To that extent they are out of harmony with justice. What we need to do is to think righteously, soberly, kindly, along the lines of the Golden Rule, to let our words and deeds be in harmony with the principles of righteousness. Thus we shall be greatly assisted in the development of the sterling Christian character which is absolutely essential if we would have our Father’s approval.
Justice, then, is the basis, the first thing necessary, in building character. From this basis we are to go on to the attainment of sympathy, benevolence, forgiveness, love. God has been very loving and sympathetic with us. He has provided us a Redeemer. He has covered our many blemishes from his sight. Then, as we seek to copy God, we shall wish to be kind and forbearing and helpful toward all. But we must be just first. If we have an unjust twist in our mind, it will interfere with our communion with God, and we shall be in danger of failing to make our calling and election sure.
We are continually surrounded by the spirit of the world—hatred, envy, malice, strife. So we must keep very close to the Lord to counteract this spirit. The world and the things of the fallen nature are so close to us that we can with difficulty avoid being contaminated by them. One can hardly pass through a vile neighborhood without carrying away vile odors. But the Lord has furnished us with a most effective disinfectant in his Word. All the cleansing we need is derived from the message which God has given us, with its explicit instructions. This wireless message from him tells of his love for us, speaks peace through Jesus Christ our Lord, makes known to us our privilege of becoming heirs of God and joint-heirs with our Lord Jesus.
Having been called with this heavenly calling, we can readily understand that God would not have us in this class unless we have the right spirit. The selection is not according to a whim of divine preference. On the contrary, God chooses according to character, according to natural qualifications of honesty and the desire to be just, to be right, whatever may be the fleshly weaknesses. Justice is the very basis of God’s throne, the foundation of his government.
Worldliness among Professed Christians
In our text the Lord Jesus declares that at a certain time in the Gospel age, and apparently pointing down to our day, “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” The Revised Version given here is stronger than our Common version rendering. It is not only many who will grow cold, but the many, the majority of professed followers of Christ. How truly the Master’s words have been fulfilled! Iniquity is inequity, injustice, unrighteousness. Our text might properly read, “Because unrighteousness shall abound, the love of the many shall grow cold.” We are in the time against which the Lord sought to especially guard us. How few comparatively have heeded the warning!
The Studies in the Scriptures point out that in God’s arrangement the Prophet Elijah was a type of The Christ in the flesh—Jesus being the Head of the antitypical Elijah and the church being his body. The three and a half years, 1260 days, of Elijah’s experiences while hiding in the wilderness from Queen Jezebel were symbolic, and corresponded to the 1260 years of the true church in the wilderness condition, where she had fled from the antitypical Jezebel. (Revelation 12:6,14; Daniel 7:24,25) Elijah’s coming out of the wilderness prefigured the coming out of the true church of God from her wilderness hiding after the year A.D. 1799, when Jezebel’s power was broken, and the copious rains following represented by the wide circulation of the Bible since that date.
The church of Christ, the watching ones, are now in a particular time of waiting. The Elijah class is soon to be taken beyond the veil. The Elisha class will be left until later, to wash their soiled robes in the blood of the Lamb in the “great tribulation” just before the world. It seems that the Lord is now especially testing his people. Among many of the people of God love has waxed cold, because unrighteousness is abounding everywhere. Many today profess to believe things that they do not believe. Empty forms of godliness prevail. Love of pleasure is rampant. As a result many professed Christians are lukewarm or cold. They say, “Look at what the church systems are doing. What is right for our church leaders is right for me.” Thus many are taking a very wavering course.
There is much injustice practiced everywhere. We find great neglect of the Golden Rule. Christian parents, too, are leaving the religious training of their children too frequently to the Sunday School, where the teachers are often wholly incompetent to instruct them in the Word of God. Christian parents should be the priests of their own family. They have a great responsibility. Because iniquity prevails, the temptation is strong with many to follow the multitude. But the Lord’s children should not follow a multitude to do evil. We must learn quickly now all God’s will concerning us. The end of the Church’s probation is drawing near. We have not much time left in the school of Christ. The saints are soon to be judges of the world. Shall we be among those judges?
Proper Attitude of Christians
Let each child of God bestir himself. Let him encourage the brethren to faithfulness. Let us give close attention to God’s Word, that we may become more and more like our Father in heaven. Let us love the things which are true, right, noble, Godlike. Let us renounce all else for the heavenly things. We cannot stand for our own rights in the world. We gave up our human rights when we gave ourselves to the Lord. There are times perhaps when we might offer a protest, as Jesus did when he was smitten. But he did not retaliate nor try to render evil for evil. And we are to walk as he walked. Let us not allow the iniquity of others to cause our hearts to grow cold.
The One whom we are to please, the One with whom we have to do, the One whom we love above every human tie, is our Lord. We desire to do his will. As for the brethren, let us do the best we know how for them. Let heavenly wisdom be our guide. Let us faithfully follow Jesus in the narrow way, whatever others about us may do; and soon we shall hear his sweet “Well done!”