The Pastor's Letter (November 1976)
Dear Friends,
The case of Dugald Sinclair mentioned in Edition 122 in the article Baptists in Scotland was a man who “imbibed strange views on prophecy,” and uprooted himself and most of his church to go off on a wild goose chase – is one of those cases from which we should ever learn with regards to all such matters and the consequences of making them the sum and substance of our Christian thinking. How easy it is for men and women to get so caught up with the exploration of “things to come,” that the “weightier matters” of our present Christian living in the midst of the earth where the Lord has set us to shine, are neglected and counted as a mere piece of needless effort, indulged in by those who have no interest in the “deeper things of the scriptures.” We are being told today – and with every bit as much finality that people were told a hundred, two-hundred, and eighteen-hundred years ago – that these are “the last days.” And whereas we would have no intention of entering into any debate as to whether or not that is the case, we would honestly like to know what possible difference it can make to the ever-present duty and calling of the church of Christ whether they are “the last days” or not.
If they should happen to be the “last days,” then it, surely, becomes every professing child of God to be about the church's great calling in the evangelisation of men and women and the sanctification of their own souls, so that, when the Lord returns, He might find us so employed. If, on the other hand, it turns out that the “prophetic seers” of our own day are as far off the mark as past generations of that class of citizen have been, and that this world has yet many centuries to run, then, shall we be like those servants who said, “My lord delays his coming,” and begin to live as though we were our own masters? In other words, the “day and the hour” of the Lord's return are, indeed, in His own will and purpose, and we may but glance with remarkably dim eyes in the vague direction of that will and purpose.
What is abundantly clear, however, is what we, as the professing people of God, should be engaged in until that day and hour. Is that not a strange state of affairs – that we will give ourselves a spiritual “squint” in trying to peer into what God will not permit us to know, and yet will fail to keep our eye “single” - well focussed – on those things that are writ so large on the pages of God's precious truth for our performance? We have no wish to go further into the matter at this time; but, Oh, that the Church of Jesus Christ was up and about her business – knowing that it is her business here below, whether the days be short, or whether they be long. They are short enough for all that needs done, and long enough to have to answer for before the face of the Lord our God when He does return.
May I just leave you with two separate pieces on the general subject at hand? They are both vastly different in style – one with all the force so characteristic of Mr Spurgeon, and the other, with that “still small voice” quality of Alexander Smellie – and yet, both, clearly giving us that desirable emphasis with regards to those things that really belong to our peace.
First – Mr Spurgeon:-
“More and more am I jealous lest any views upon prophecy … should withdraw one of us from glorifying in the Cross of Christ. Salvation is a theme for which I would fain enlist every holy tongue. I am greedy after witnesses for the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Your guess at the number of the beast, your Napoleonic speculations, your conjectures concerning a personal Antichrist – forgive me, I count them mere bones for dogs. While men are dying, and hell is filling, it seems to me the veriest drivel to be muttering about an Armageddon at Sebastopol or Sadow or Sedan, and peering between the folded leaves to discover the fate of Germany.”
“Blessed are they who read and hear the words of the prophecy of the Revelation; but the like blessing has evidently not fallen on those who pretend to expound it; for generation after generation of them have been proved to be in error by the mere lapse of time, and the present race will follow to the same inglorious sepulchre. I would sooner pluck one single brand from the burning than explain all mysteries. To win a soul from going down into the pit is a more glorious achievement than to be crowned in the area of theological controversy. To have faithfully unveiled the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ will be the final judgement accounted worthier service than to have solved the problems of the religious Sphinx, or to have cut the Gordian knot of apocalyptic difficulty. Blessed is that ministry of which Christ is all.”
And now, Alexander Smellie:-
“The Lamb of God is the centre of this mystic and glowing book of the Revelation.
There is the Lamb with His wounds – the Lamb that was slain. Even in heaven, He carries those scars of His conflict, those reminiscences of the power of the night, and the press of the storm, and the hate of the foe. Even in heaven, I shall be perpetually reminded that I owe everything to Calvary, and to Him who was both Victor and Victim there.
There is the Lamb in His royalty – the Lamb in the midst of the Throne. The head that once was crowned with the sharp cactus thorns is crowned with regal glory now. I rejoice in it for Christ's sake. I rejoice in it for my own sake, for what is there that He cannot do for me – His little one? Over the world of nature and men, over unseen principalities and powers, He rules that He may befriend my soul.
There is the Lamb with his guardianship of His own – the Lamb shall lead them. To all eternity He shall shepherd me, feed me, uphold me. I shall never be able to dispense with Him. I shall never wish to stand alone, outside His keeping and His care. Through the everlasting years I shall avow myself my dear Lord's debtor.
There is the Lamb in His triumphs – the Lamb shall overcome them. He who is for me is mightier than the hosts arrayed against me. He will conquer in the battle.
I have 'none other Hope in heaven or earth or sea.'”