glad tidings issue 1558

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OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 1558 Glad Tidings Glad Tidings

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A monthly magazine published by theChristadelphians (brothers and sisters in Christ) and available throughout the world.Its objectives are – to encourage the study of the Bible as God's inspired message to men; to call attention to the Divine offer of forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ; and to warn menand women that soon Christ will return to Earth as judge and ruler of God’s world-wide Kingdom.

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Glad Tidings issue 1558

OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 1558GladTidingsGladTidings

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Bible Talks, Study Classes, Sunday Schools and Youth Clubs areheld regularly by Christadelphians worldwide. The address ofyour nearest group can be obtained either from one of the Glad Tidings Distributors listed above, or from one of the contactaddresses listed on the back cover.

Bible VersionsThe version most used in this issue isthe New King James Version (NKJV)and other versions are sometimes

used.

✤ The New King James Version iscopyrighted by Thomas Nelson.

✤ The English Standard Version is published by Harper CollinsPublishers © 2001 by CrosswayBibles, a division of Good NewsPublishers. Used by permission.

✤ The New International Version is copyrighted 1978 by New York Bible Society

GladTidingsO F T H E K I N G D O M O F G O D

130th Year 1558A monthly magazine published by the Christadelphians (brothers and sisters in Christ) andavailable throughout the world.

AcknowledgementsPhotographs:

Cover: No Through Road, some-where in the UK istockphotos

Other Illustrations

Clipart.com; istockphotos pg 6a; www.ccel.org pg 10; Christian

Clipart pg 17.

ContentsC14

Glad Tidings Distributorsfor orders and payments

United Kingdom – Cilla Palmer, “Highlands”, 78 Mildenhall Road, Fordham, Ely, Cambs, England CB7 5NR Tel: (01638)723959 (24 hrs & Fax) [email protected]

Australia – Jon Fry, 19 Macey Street, Croydon South, Victoria, Australia, 3136

[email protected] – Vivian Thorp, 5377 Birdcage Walk,

Burlington, Ontario, Canada, L7L 3K5 [email protected]

New Zealand – Neil Todd, 14 Morpeth Place, Blockhouse Bay, Auckland 7, New Zealand

South Africa – A. J. Oosthuizen, P.O.Box 50357, Musgrave Road,Durban 4062, South Africa [email protected]

U.S.A. – Pat Hemingray, 3079 Kilburn West, Rochester Hills, USA, MI 48306

Other Countries – Andrew Johnson, 22 Hazel Drive, Hollywood, Birmingham, England, B47 [email protected]

Editor: Owen Tecwyn Morgan, 26 The Crescent, Hampton-in-Arden, Solihull, England, B92 OBP [email protected]

Publisher: The Glad Tidings Publishing Association A registered charity – Number 248352

Contents

No Through Road............3

God has Revealed Himselfin the Bible....................5

The New TestamentLetters: Romans............9

The Work of Angels.......12

Should you expect an EasyLife? .............................15

Is there a supernatural‘Satan’?........................16

Good King Uzziah..........18

Its objectives are – to encourage the study of the Bible as God'sinspired message to men; to call attention to the Divine offerof forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ; and to warn menand women that soon Christ will return to Earth as judge andruler of God’s world-wide Kingdom.

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130th Year 3

there was no way back and no wayforward, but then said this:

Stand still, and see the salvation of theLORD, which He will accomplish foryou today. For the Egyptians whom yousee today, you shall see again no moreforever. The Lord will fight for you, andyou shall hold your peace” (Exodus14:13–14).

Unbeknown to them, Moses hadbeen pleading with God for deliveranceand now God told him what to do. Hewas to lift his rod up over the sea, andtell the people to “Go forward!”, whichwas precisely what Moses now did,and for once the people obeyed himimplicitly. God made a way through thesea and for generations afterwardsIsrael’s poets and songwriters wouldcelebrate that miracle as a demonstra-tion of God’s power and His ability tosave.

A New WayHere are the words of a Psalmistlooking back and a Prophet lookingforward:

The voice of Your thunder was in thewhirlwind; the lightnings lit up theworld; the earth trembled and shook.Your way was in the sea, your path inthe great waters, and Your footstepswere not known. You led Your peoplelike a flock by the hand of Moses andAaron (Psalm 77:18–20).

Thus says the Lord, who makes a wayin the sea and a path through themighty waters, who brings forth thechariot and horse … Do not rememberthe former things, nor consider thethings of old. Behold, I will do a new

Extreme weather seems to have beenhitting people everywhere this winter.North America was affected by a bigfreeze with record low temperatures.Parts of Australia suffered a heatwavewith bottles of water melting at theMelbourne Australian Open tennistournament.

In Britain rain and strong winds havedominated, making roads impassable,cutting power supplies and floodingmany homes. It may all be the by-product of global warming which isupsetting weather patterns, or it maybe a natural cycle which will recur fromtime to time. Opinions are dividedabout the underlying cause. What isperfectly clear however is that watercan be an effective barrier when thereis too much of it. When a river flowsover a road there is no way through,without a boat!

“Stand Still”Long ago the infant nation of Israelstopped alongside a watercourse andthere seemed to be no way across. Itmattered, for the nation comprisedslaves who had been told to leaveEgypt and now their erstwhile slavemasters had second thoughts andwanted them back. They came inpursuit armed and with revenge in theirhearts.

With an army behind them and aseemingly impassable watercourseahead of them, it is understandablethat the people looked to their leaderfor advice and Moses did not disap-point. But the first few words he spokemust have seemed blatantly obvious.He told them to “Stand Still”, whichwas what they were forced to do as

No Through RoadNo Through Road

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with non-Jews and made little or noattempt to merge with their surround-ings.

A Jew was always a Jew, and thatwas just as God had intended it. Forwhen it seemed there was no throughroad, and the political and physicalway was blocked, God arranged a wayback to the Promised Land and thenation of Israel was reborn.

Of course, the nations that voted forthe land of Palestine to be partitionedbetween Jew and Arab considered thatthey were acting for humanitarianreasons, to compensate somewhat forthe atrocities of the Nazi regime andits tragic aftermath. In fact this was thework of God, unseen and unseeable,but those nations voted to fulfil God’sancient promises carefully preserved inthe Bible. As God had said:

Behold, I will do a new thing, now itshall spring forth; shall you not knowit? I will even make a road in thewilderness and rivers in the desert …To give drink to My people, My chosen.This people I have formed forMyself; they shall declare Mypraise (Isaiah 43:19-21).

Today Israel exists as a national tes-timony to the truth that God alwayskeeps His promises and that Hispurpose is unstoppable. It is movingsteadily towards the greatest eventever: the return from heaven of theLord Jesus Christ who is coming toJerusalem to reign in the midst of hispeople.

There is a way in which you can bepart of that multitude of people whowill spend eternity with the Lord. JesusChrist is the way, through truth, toeternal life.

Editor

thing, now it shall spring forth; shallyou not know it? I will even make aroad in the wilderness and rivers in thedesert... (Isaiah 43:16–19).

What God had done to rescue Israelfrom Egypt was only a beginning. If youare familiar with the early books of theBible you will know that it took therefugees many years before they tookpossession of the Promised Land andbecame a proper nation, recognized bythe nations round about. Their nationallife was turbulent, to say the least, asthey were surrounded by enemies andmuch hostility.

Right through Bible times the nationof Israel was under threat from largerand more powerful neighbours, like thePhilistines and the Assyrians. Andwhen world empires came into exis-tence – the superpowers of their day –the tiny nation of Israel became asubject people. Fiercely patriotic andwith a burning desire for indepen-dence, they had to accept foreigncontrol as one empire succeededanother.

By New Testament times they weresubject to Roman rule and despitetheir attempts to break free, theRomans brought the nation to an end.First in AD70 and later in AD132 theJewish people were deported and dis-persed throughout the Roman Empireand, over the years, throughout theworld.

God’s Way BackFor nearly two thousand years there

appeared to be no way back to theland that was once occupied by thefathers of the nation. Jews were wan-derers, people with no fixed abode, adespised, hated and often persecutednation-within-a-nation. For the wan-derers never seemed to lose theirJewish identity, seldom inter-married

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130th Year 5

Throughout history man has soughtsome being greater than himself toworship or to blame for anything hedidn’t understand or to entreat and tobe his champion in battles betweentribes and later in wars betweennations.

However, things changed dramati-cally in the 17th century. The dawn ofmodern science brought answers to awhole range of questions which werepreviously unfathomable mysteries tothe human mind. The gaps in man’sknowledge about himself, the earthand the universe grew much smallerthan previously and the need for a godto “fill in the gaps” in man’s under-standing became far less urgent. Yetdespite this there were many scien-tists, politicians and philosophers inthat period who viewed their work asrevealing more of the might and powerof God, as He had revealed Himself inthe Bible.

Pause over these few quotations fora moment:

❖ It is impossible to rightly govern theworld without God and the Bible −George Washington (1732-1799),the first US president.

❖ There are more sure marks ofauthenticity in the Bible than in anyprofane history − Sir Isaac Newton(1642-1727), English physicist.

❖ All human discoveries seem to bemade only for the purpose of con-firming more and more the Truthscontained in the Sacred Scriptures– Sir William Herschel (1718-1822), English astronomer.

❖ The existence of the Bible, as abook for the people, is the greatestbenefit which the human race hasever experienced. Every attempt tobelittle it is a crime against human-ity – Immanuel Kant (1724-1804).

It was later still − in the 19thcentury, after the work of CharlesDarwin − that some thinkers proposeda new idea altogether that science andreligion present two different conceptsabout the earth and indeed the uni-verse. They are equally true but do notoverlap. They are the two sides of thesame coin. One shows us how thingsare and how they work, the other tellsus why they are and what is thepurpose of it all.

Intelligent DesignThings have moved on again so thattoday man thinks he knows theanswers to pretty well all of the ques-tions that can be put to him. Somemen have become insufferably proudof their achievements and think theycan do without a God. Many even denyHis existence.

But all is not lost, even today. C. S.Lewis, a Christian writer of the last

God has RevealedGod has RevealedHimself in the BibleHimself in the Bible

George Washington Sir Isaac Newton

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6 Glad Tidings

century who was also something of aphilosopher, made the following pointsin one of his books:

❖ Suppose, for a moment, that therewas no intelligence behind the uni-verse, no creative mind. In thatcase, nobody designed my brain forthe purpose of thinking. It is merelythat when the atoms inside myskull happen for physical or chemi-cal reasons to arrange themselvesin a certain way, this gives me, as aby-product the sensation I callthought.

But if so, how can I trust my ownthinking to be true? It’s like upset-ting a glass of milk and hoping thatthe way the splash arranges itselfwill give you a map of London. Butif I can’t trust my own thinking, ofcourse, I can’t trust the argumentsleading to atheism; therefore I haveno reason to be an atheist, or any-thing else. Unless I believe in God,I can’t believe in thought, so I cannever use thought to disbelieve inGod.

I’ve said enough to, at least, set yourminds thinking about the idea of God.

God has SpokenAs Christadelphians, we have come tobelieve that there is an Almighty Godwho has revealed Himself and Hispurpose with His creation and that rev-elation is uniquely to be found in thebook we know as the Bible. This is verymuch in accord, as we have seen, withthe thinking of some well-known menof earlier generations. So let’s look atsome Bible passages to see what ittells us:

In the beginning God created theheavens and the earth. The earth waswithout form, and void; and darkness

was on the face of the deep. And theSpirit of God was hovering over theface of the waters. Then God said, “Letthere be light”; and there was light.And God saw the light, that it wasgood; and God divided the light fromthe darkness. God called the light Day,and the darkness He called Night. Sothe evening and the morning were thefirst day (Genesis 1:1–5).

Who has measured the waters in thehollow of His hand, measured heavenwith a span and calculated the dust ofthe earth in a measure? Weighed themountains in scales and the hills in abalance? Who has directed the Spiritof the Lord, or as His counselor hastaught Him? (Isaiah 40:12–13).

(God) Who alone has immortality,dwelling in unapproachable light,whom no man has seen or can see, towhom be honor and everlasting power(1 Timothy 6:16).

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130th Year 7

Behold, an angel of the Lord appearedto him in a dream, saying, “Joseph,son of David, do not be afraid to taketo you Mary your wife, for that which isconceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.And she will bring forth a Son, and youshall call His name Jesus, for he willsave his people from their sins”(Matthew 1:20–21).

When the fullness of the time hadcome, God sent forth His Son, born ofa woman, born under the law (Gala-tians 4:4).

In all things he (Jesus) had to be madelike his brethren, that he might be amerciful and faithful High Priest inthings pertaining to God, to make pro-pitiation for the sins of the people. Forin that he himself has suffered, beingtempted, he is able to aid those whoare tempted (Hebrews 2:16–18).

So here the Bible tells us that Godhas not only revealed Himself tomankind through His Word but also inthe person and the life of His Son, theLord Jesus Christ.

What is God Like?You will want to know what the God ofthe Bible is like as a person, given thatit’s possible to think of Him in thatway! Is He vengeful or forgiving? Is Hefull of anger or of love? Has He a shortfuse, like so many of us, or is Heincomparably patient? One of thegreat leaders of the Jewish peopleasked these questions of the Lord Godwho, in reply, revealed Himself toMoses in this way:

The Lord passed before him and pro-claimed, “The Lord, the Lord God,merciful and gracious, longsuffering,and abounding in goodness and truth,keeping mercy for thousands, forgivinginiquity and transgression and sin, by

The Bible tells us that God is theCreator and Sustainer of all things. Hedwells in the heavens in unapproach-able light. He is the personification ofwisdom and power.

Prophecy never came by the will ofman, but holy men of God spoke asthey were moved by the Holy Spirit (2Peter 1:21).

The angel answered (Mary) and said toher, “The Holy Spirit will come uponyou, and the power of the Highest willovershadow you; therefore, also, thatHoly One who is to be born will becalled the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

And he (Jesus) was handed the bookof the prophet Isaiah. And when hehad opened the book, he found theplace where it was written: “The Spiritof the Lord is upon me, because Hehas anointed me to preach the gospelto the poor; He has sent me to healthe brokenhearted, to proclaim libertyto the captives and recovery of sight tothe blind, to set at liberty those whoare oppressed; to proclaim the accept-able year of the Lord” (Luke 4:17–19).

Suddenly there came a sound fromheaven, as of a rushing mighty wind,and it filled the whole house wherethey were sitting. Then there appearedto them (the apostles) dividedtongues, as of fire, and one sat uponeach of them. And they were all filledwith the Holy Spirit and began to speakwith other tongues, as the Spirit gavethem utterance (Acts 2:2–4).

Again, the Bible tells us that God’spower is limitless and so He is every-where present by His Spirit. He usesHis power for special purposes, someby their very nature are unique occa-sions.

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no means clearing the guilty, visitingthe iniquity of the fathers upon thechildren and the children’s children tothe third and the fourth generation”(Exodus 34:6–7).

The answer to a quite different ques-tion as to why God should speak witha man who was a leader of the Jewsand not some other nation, is thesubject of other articles in this maga-zine. Suffice it for the present toremind ourselves that Jesus Christ,God’s only begotten Son was born of aJewish woman.

Why is He merciful? Why is He gra-cious? Why is He longsuffering? Whyhas He all these wonderful characteris-tics? We need to think about this for amoment.

Our ChoiceGod created man in the beginningdescribing His creation as “very good”(Genesis 1:31). Yet He gave man athinking mind and the ability to exer-cise choice. Would he choose toworship and obey God as God intendedhe should, or would he choose to be arebel?

History tells us the answer to thisquestion time after time after time!This state of rebellion is called sin andit leads man to death and oblivion.Indeed, death is God’s punishment forsin. So we ask, “What about those whoreally want to worship God and whochoose to be obedient”? What willhappen to them?

Have a quiet read from one of thepsalms − Psalm 103, verses 8 to 18.Here is God’s gracious mercy in action.The Creator has, through the sacrificeof His Son, made it possible forhonest, repentant men and women toturn to Him and not to perish at death.

Have a look at these Bible passages:

John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-11 and 2 Peter3:9. At death, such men and womenfall asleep in Christ, into an uncon-scious state, waiting for the day ofresurrection. The apostle Paul explainsall that in detail in 1 Corinthianschapter 15 (read verses 21-22 and51-57).

God’s MercyThe Bible tells us that God, althoughhigh and lifted up, almighty andimmortal, is yet loving and mercifultowards weak and rebellious mankind.As the focal point of His creation weneed, as individuals, to show God thatwe realise how weak and failing we areand turn to Him with repentant heartsseeking forgiveness for our wrongdoing, as says the prophet:

Seek the Lord while He may be found,call upon Him while He is near. Let thewicked forsake his way, and theunrighteous man his thoughts; let himreturn to the Lord, and He will havemercy on him; and to our God, for Hewill abundantly pardon (Isaiah 55:6–7).

God, in His great mercy, has madethis possible through His Son. That’sthe sort of God He is − the great Godof heaven. This is the majestic personthat the Bible uniquely reveals to us.We all need to turn to Him through HisSon who made this wonderful offer:

Come to me, all you who labour andare heavy laden, and I will give yourest. Take my yoke upon you and learnfrom me, for I am gentle and lowly inheart, and you will find rest for yoursouls. For my yoke is easy and my

burden is light (Matthew 11:28–30).

Trevor A. Pritchard

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130th Year 9

In the survey of all the Books of theBible, David Pearce has now reachedthe last part of the New Testament,which comprises letters written by theapostles, and the Book of Revelationwhich was given to the Apostle John.

Many Such LettersIt is apparent that we only have a fewof the many letters that were written bythe apostles. For example, in 1Corinthians 5:9 the Apostle Paul says“I wrote unto you in my letter ...” Butwe only have two letters to theCorinthians in our Bible. So what wecall the First Letter to the Corinthianswas actually the second. And in ourFirst Letter, Paul replies to a number ofquestions that the Corinthians hadsent to him earlier.

That letter was not preserved andwith many of these letters we have tobe detectives, and read between thelines to work out the background andthe circumstances in which they werewritten. It is like being in the roomwhen your daughter is talking to herboy friend on the telephone and youcannot hear the person at the otherend.

How did the letters that have sur-vived come to be in the Bible? That isan interesting question. Apart from allthose letters which are missing, weknow there were also many letterswritten by people who were pretendingto be apostles, but were not. Paulrefers to this regrettable developmentin 2 Thessalonians 2:2, warning hisfriends not to be alarmed by, amongstother things, “a letter as if from us”. Itis for this reason that Paul alwayssigned off his letters himself. Usuallyhe dictated them, so they were writtenin different styles of handwriting,depending on who was his secretary atthe time. But his signature confirmedthey were genuine:

The salutation of Paul with my ownhand, which is a sign in every epistle;so I write. (2 Thessalonians 3:17).

At the end of the First Century therewere many letters (and gospels, too) incirculation, some of which weregenuine and some false. The samething had been true of the Old Testa-ment writings, but the Jews haddecided long before the time of Christwhich writings were reliable.

The decisions about the New Testa-ment books were made by the leadersof the early Church, classifying someas genuine and inspired by God, othersas doubtful and grouped together in acollection known as the Apocrypha,and still others as downright cheatsand rejected, such as the Shepherd ofHermas and the Gospel of Thomas.Athanasius, writing in 367 AD, lists all39 of our New Testament books.

Books of the Bible − 32

The New TestamentThe New TestamentLetters: RomansLetters: Romans

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Paul’s Letter to the RomansThere is no chronological order to theNew Testament epistles, as they arebroadly placed in terms of their length.Not all Bibles have the same order; theRussian Bible, for example, places thevarious letters quite differently fromthe English Bible. However, it is usuallypossible by internal clues in the lettersto work out approximately when theywere written. The Roman letter musthave been composed at the end ofPaul’s third journey, because heexplains at some length in the closingchapters that he has now completedhis work of preaching in Asia – whichwe now call Turkey − and was ready tomove on. First, he explains, he neededto go to Jerusalem with a collection ofmoney for the believers there (this col-lection is referred to in 1 Corinthians16:1,2). Then he proposed to drop inon the Roman brothers and sisters onhis way to Spain:

Whenever I journey to Spain, I shallcome to you. For I hope to see you onmy journey, and to be helped on myway there by you, if first I may enjoyyour company for a while. (Romans15:24).

Why Write?In part, the letter was to prepare theRoman Christians for his visit. He hadnot been to Italy before, but Paul knewmany of the members of the church inRome, for he sends greetings to morethan twenty of them in Chapter 16. Itseems that people moved around theMediterranean area quite freely, but itis likely that a good proportion of thecongregation were Jews. There wouldbe many synagogues in the capital city,and some of the members would havecome across the gospel on trips toJerusalem.

It is to a mixed congregation ofJewish and Gentile Christians that theApostle directs this brilliant letter. Hisaim is to persuade the believers atRome that although Israel has animportant role in the purpose of God,descent from Abraham and a know-ledge of the Law of Moses will not ofitself bring salvation from sin anddeath. What matters is faith in God,and belief in the sacrifice of Jesus.Without this no one will be saved.

World Astray!He begins with a graphic description ofRoman society. In a world which doesnot acknowledge a Creator, he says,anything goes (we can see the samephenomenon today). It was a brutaland selfish society. But it was no pointin the Jew, with his divinely revealedLaw, condemning the Gentiles for theirimmorality, unless he lived a blamelesslife himself. And that was the problem.

The Law of Moses was very good atspotlighting human sin, but it did nottake that sin away. It left Jews, as wellas Gentiles, trapped in a situationwhere they were condemned to deathbecause they failed to attain the holylife that God desires. In fact, the Jewwho knew the Scriptures well was

10 Glad Tidings

Paul’s Third Missionary Journey during whichthe letter to the Romans was written

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more, not less, guilty than the Roman,who had only a general appreciation ofright and wrong.

Take circumcision, he says. It was asign of the covenant between God andHis people. But God called FatherAbraham “righteous” (this word literallymeans counted innocent before ajudge) long before he was circumcised.So, he explained, you do not have tobe circumcised to be saved. AndAbraham was called righteous, not forany great deed he performed, butbecause he believed God meant whathe said. Faith was the key. We are allsinners, both Jews and Gentiles, andthe only way to escape is to believe inJesus.

Baptism into ChristWe express our faith in him, he writesin Romans chapter six, by being bap-tised – an immersion under water as asymbol of death and resurrection. Inthe water all our sins are left behind.We start a new life. We change sides,crossing over from Adam to Christ.From now on, we belong to God, andSin no longer holds us as his slaves. Ofcourse, we still continue to sin. Webattle against what our human natureimpels us to do, and we fail. But Godin Christ will forgive our lapses whenour hearts are right. Chapter eight isthe climax of his argument. We are soprivileged, he says, to have beenadopted by God as His sons anddaughters. We are heirs, waiting forthe day when we shall receive aninheritance from God. Of course thewaiting for God’s Kingdom is tedious,and we groan as we suffer. But thebest is still to come. And whateverhappens in life, we can be sure thatthe love of God and His Son will sur-round us to the grave.

Israel: God’s PeopleThe next section deals with the posi-tion of Israel in the purpose of God.They had, Paul explains, the privilegeof knowing God, and His command-ments. But they had tried to turnrighteousness into obeying a long listof ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’. This does notwork. We cannot earn salvation. Wehave to believe in the One who Godsent. Sadly, this left the majority of theJews deaf to the call of the gospel.Only a minority, like the 7000 whobelieved in Elijah’s day, had been bap-tised into Christ.

However, God being merciful, Paulconcludes, there will come a futureday when Jesus the Redeemer willcome back to his people and forgivetheir past. Then Israel the nation willbe restored to God like a broken offbranch grafted back into its tree. “Andso all Israel will be saved” (Romans11:26) – all Israel, both those ofAbraham’s race who now have faith inthe Saviour they crucified, and thoseGentiles who already had the faith ofAbraham and are counted as his child-ren.

The letter to the Romans ends inshort exhortations, with instructionsabout prayers, about tolerancetowards those who take a differentview on unimportant issues, and theimportance of unity. The Apostle’splans to visit them on his way to Spainwere not to be fulfilled, as we can seefrom the book of Acts. He was arrestedat Jerusalem, and spent years inprison. But he got to Rome in the end,in the custody of a centurion, and aftertwo more years in jail he was releasedto continue his work for the Lord heloved so well.

David M Pearce

130th Year 11

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GOD-MANIFESTATION is the greattheme of the Bible. The subject is avast one and not without difficulties.Nevertheless it is possible by advan-cing step-by-step to reach a sufficientunderstanding of the subject in itsrelation to God’s purpose with thehuman race.

All power is of God. God is theCreator and the Sustainer of all things.In the words of the Apostle Paul:

For us there is one God, the Father, ofwhom are all things, and we for Him;and one Lord Jesus Christ, throughwhom are all things, and throughwhom we live (1 Corinthians 8:6).

God is the source of all power and allexistence: “for in Him we live andmove and have our being” (Acts17:28). “For of Him and through Himand to Him are all things” (Romans11:36).

The AngelsThe Bible tells us of an order of beingsthat are subordinate to the Creatorand yet of a higher nature than our-selves. They are the angels of God. TheLord Jesus was made “a little lowerthan the angels” and for the sufferingof death was crowned with glory andhonour. These angelic beings do thewill of God and execute His command-ments perfectly. They were His agentsin the work of creation. God asks Job:

Where were you when I laid the foun-dations of the earth? Tell Me, if youhave understanding … When themorning stars sang together, and allthe sons of God (the angels) shoutedfor joy? (Job 38:4,7).

The angels, in the execution of aDivine plan, said, “Let us make man in

our image, after our likeness” (Genesis1:26); and the work was done. “Godsaid,” and “it came to pass.” Theinstruments by which He executed Hiswork were the angels. Not only so;they are God’s instruments in directingaffairs at the present time, unseen butyet active in pursuing the Divinepurpose.

Angelic ActivityThe prophecy of Daniel draws asidethe veil with regard to the activities ofangels, and we see their control ofevents related to the Kingdom ofPersia (see Daniel 10:19-21). Thisaspect of their work is summed up inthe words of the Apostle when he saysthat God:

... has not put the world to come, ofwhich we speak, in subjection toangels (Hebrews 2:5).

The present order is indeed subjectto them and their control, but thefuture will be subject to the Lord Jesusand his associate brothers and sisterswho will then be made like him.(Revelation 3:21; 1 John 3.2).

Until that happens, the angels ofGod have a work on behalf of theindivi dual subjects of God’s favour; inthe words of the Psalmist:

The angel of the Lord encamps allaround those who fear Him, and deli-vers them (Psalm 34:7).

The New Testament counterpart ofthat expression is in Hebrews, wherethe apostle says:

God-Manifestation

The Work of AngelsThe Work of Angels

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130th Year 13

Are they not all ministering spirits sentforth to minister for those who willinherit salvation? (Hebrews 1:14).

God’s MessengersRecognising the work which the angelsperform, we look now at the style ofScripture in which God describes theiractivities. In Genesis chapter 16 weare told of the flight of Hagar from hermistress Sarai and of the angel of Godfinding her in the wilderness.

Then the Angel of the Lord said to her,“I will multiply your descendantsexceedingly, so that they shall not becounted for multitude” … Then shecalled the name of theLord who spoke to her,You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said,“Have I also here seenhim who sees me?”(Genesis 16:10–13).

Notice that in hiswords the angel attrib-utes to himself thepower of God andascribes to himselfthat which is thepurpose of God. “I willmultiply your descen-dants exceedingly”. Yetthe angel speaks (inverse 11) of “the LORD” having heardher affliction: and Hagar names theone that met her, who is called “theLORD” in the narrative, “You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees”. Here we have thenames “the LORD” and “God” usedwith reference to the angel. The angelexpresses in the first person that whichGod purposes to do.

How shall we understand this form oflanguage? It indicates that the angelswere such manifestations of God orexpressions of the Divine purpose that

they spoke His word as the onesappointed to execute His purpose.They spoke of doing His purpose asthough they were the Eternal Himself.

God’s RepresentativesAnother illustration is found in Genesis18, which is mentioned in the NewTestament in the exhortation:

Do not forget to entertain strangers,for by so doing some have unwittinglyentertained angels (Hebrews 13:2).

This is how the Genesis accountdescribes the encounter:

Then the Lord appeared to him(Abraham) by the terebinth trees of

Mamre, as he was sittingin the tent door in theheat of the day. So helifted his eyes and looked,and behold, three menwere standing by him;and when he saw them,he ran from the tent doorto meet them, and bowedhimself to the ground,and said, “My Lord, if Ihave now found favour inYour sight, do not pass onby Your servant” (Genesis18:1–3).

These angels weremanifes tations of God, and being suchare described as “The LORD” appear-ing unto Abraham. In harmony withthis we read that:

The Lord said to Abraham, “Why didSarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surelybear a child, since I am old?’ Is any-thing too hard for the LORD? At theappointed time I will return to you,according to the time of life, and Sarahshall have a son” (Genesis 18:13,14).

While the narrative speaks of theangel as the Lord, the angel speaks of

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God as being a separate personalityfrom himself.

A similar objective existence withregard to the Divine Power, the Eternal,is seen in the 19th verse, where theangel says,

For I have known him (Abraham), inorder that he may command his child-ren and his household after him, thatthey keep the way of the LORD, to dorighteousness and justice, that theLord may bring to Abraham what Hehas spoken to him (Genesis 18:19).

The angel does not say “he will keepmy way”; but, speaking of “the way ofthe LORD’’, he recognises the higherPower of Almighty God, whose repre-sentative he was.

Delegated AuthorityBy reading carefully, many other illus-trations of this mode of description willbe found. There is an importantpassage in Exodus when the childrenof Israel are told:

Behold, I send an Angel before you tokeep you in the way and to bring youinto the place which I have prepared.Beware of him and obey his voice; donot provoke him, for he will not pardonyour transgressions; for My name is inhim. But if you indeed obey his voiceand do all that I speak, then I will bean enemy to your enemies and anadversary to your adversaries (Exodus23:20–22).

In this we have an interweaving inthe speech of the personalities of theEternal and the Angel − “if you indeedobey his voice and do all that I speak”− God is the ultimate source of alloperations, but the angel was thechannel through which they were beingaccomplished. Because this angel hadsuch a supreme position in the admin-

istration of the affairs of this people ofGod, therefore God says concerninghim, “Beware of him and obey hisvoice; do not provoke him, for he willnot pardon your transgressions”. Sincethe angel possesses delegated author-ity, therefore God ascribes to him theexercise of the power to forgive or towithhold forgiveness.

It is interesting to compare what iswritten concerning Jacob in Genesis,with the prophecy of Hosea. OnJacob’s return from sojourning withLaban (Genesis chapter 32) he metthe angels of God, and he called thename of the place Mahanaim or “TwoCamps”. There were two camps, thecamp of angels and the camp ofJacob. Later one of the angels metJacob when he was alone, and hewrestled with the angel for his bless-ing, and prevailed. To commemoratethis, Jacob’s name was changed toIsrael.

How does the prophet Hoseacomment about what happened?

He (Jacob) took his brother (Esau) bythe heel in the womb, and in hisstrength he struggled with God. Yes, hestruggled with the Angel and prevailed;he wept, and sought favour from him.He found him in Bethel, and there Hespoke to us — That is, the LORD Godof hosts (Hosea 12:3–5).

Here the Covenant Name of God isgiven to the angel who met Jacob atBethel. It is to be understood in thelight of the usage of words alreadynoticed. God’s will is performedthrough the instruments He employsand the angels are beings which actfor God, with His authority, and in Hisname.

John Carter

(To be continued)

14 Glad Tidings

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130th Year 15

The question is often asked “I am agood person, so why do things gowrong in my life?”. This question high-lights the fact that it seems to bethought that a successful life will followfor those who believe in God. Howeverthe Bible does not teach that this is so.

Jesus the ExampleI suppose we would all agree thatJesus was a ‘good’ person. Howeverwe can hardly describe his life ashappy or successful. In fact the Bible,speaking prophetically of Jesus, says:

He is despised and rejected by men, aman of sorrows and acquainted withgrief. And we hid, as it were, our facesfrom him; he was despised, and we didnot esteem him (Isaiah 53:3).

He once said of himself:

Foxes have holes and birds of the airhave nests, but the Son of Man hasnowhere to lay his head (Matthew8:20).

There is, therefore, no reason toassume that just because we serveGod we will have an easy or pleasantlife. We can hardly expect a better lifethan Jesus had.

A Good Person?Jesus once disputed the idea that hewas ‘good’ when someone addressedhim thus:

Good Teacher, what good thing shall Ido that I may have eternal life?(Matthew 19:16).

Jesus responded that only God is‘good’ (Matthew 19:17). The Bible

teaches that we are all sinners bytracing the problem back to Adam:

Just as through one man sin enteredthe world, and death through sin, andthus death spread to all men, becauseall sinned (Romans 5:12).

It follows that if Jesus was not happyto be called ‘good,’ we should realisethat we are not ‘good’ either. It is onlywhen we appreciate this and recogniseour need of salvation that we canbenefit from the sacrifice of Jesus.Once we realise that we are sinners wewill want to associate ourselves withthe risen Jesus. This is achievedthrough the waters of baptism – by thetotal immersion of an adult in water.The person who recognizes their sinful-ness and who desires to please God isbaptized to show that they deserve todie and wish to try to live a life whichpleases God. Paul says this:

Do you not know that as many of us aswere baptized into Christ Jesus werebaptized into his death? Therefore wewere buried with him through baptisminto death, that just as Christ wasraised from the dead by the glory ofthe Father, even so we also shouldwalk in newness of life (Romans 6:3–4).

So rather than wondering why being‘good’ does not bring happiness weshould think about what Jesus actuallywants us to do. True happiness willcome for those who are given eternallife in the kingdom of God when Jesusreturns.

Peter Forbes

Should you expect anShould you expect anEasy Life?Easy Life?

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16 Glad Tidings

We start with the Old Testamentbecause ‘satan’ (though never ‘thedevil’) is mentioned there in a way thatseems to contradict what I have sug-gested earlier.

There are two clear examples wheresomeone called ‘Satan’ appears, butwhen you think about the backgroundto the story it is clear that ‘Satan’ is acharacter in a kind of drama set in atribunal, or a court of law. In these‘dramas’, ‘Satan’ represents the oppo-sition to God’s ways that was comingfrom men and women at the time.Real situations are described in a dra-matic way, as in a play.

Satan in the Book of Job Job was the most godly person of histime. He was also very rich and power-ful. It was natural for envious minds tosuggest that Job only served Godbecause God rewarded him with thegood things of this life.

The ‘sons of God’ (Job 1:6) are wor-shippers of God: we are not toldwhether they are angels or humans. Acharacter called Satan appears in theearly scenes of the drama (the first twochapters of the book) to challenge Job− that is, to be a ‘satan’ (or adversary)to him. Satan makes his suggestionopenly, and God gives him the powerto test this out. Then, in plainerlanguage from chapter 3 onwards, we

see how Job trusted in God and sur-vived the test, in spite of his friendswho echo Satan’s accusations.

It seems that it was their envy thathad been dramatised in the earlierchapters. For, in chapter 42:11 hisfamily console him for all the troublethat the LORD had brought upon him.The Satan character, having played hispart, has disappeared, and the friendsare reconciled when Job prays forthem.

In Isaiah God says:

I form the light and create darkness, Imake peace and create calamity; I,the Lord, do all these things (Isaiah45:7).

The idea of a rival god who is respon-sible for evil is quite wrong.

Satan in Zechariah Ch. 3 This prophetic book was written at atime when Jerusalem was being rebuiltafter it was destroyed by the Babylon-ians. There was much opposition fromSamaritan people who were transpor-ted into the area after the Jews weretaken away. In the purpose of God,however, this opposition would bedefeated, and the rebuilding of theTemple would succeed.

Ezra chapter 4 describes this in plainlanguage. Zechariah 3 is a vision whichshows this contest in the form of

A Christadelphian’s faith − 13

Is there a supernaturalIs there a supernatural‘Satan’? ‘Satan’?

In the last two articles, John Woodall explained that in the Bible the word‘satan’ just means an adversary and that ‘devil’ is another way of describing

human nature in opposition to God. Now he looks at some special places in theBible which refer to ‘satan’ and ‘the devil’ and asks ‘If these passages do not

refer to a super-human evil being, to who or what do they refer?’

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answer in plain (not picture)language was always “fromhuman nature”. Jesus sharedthis nature. Look at Luke 4:6,

where the devil showed Jesus allthe kingdoms of the world in amoment. This could only happenin his own mind, because evenfrom space you can only seehalf of the world.

This satan offered Jesus allthe glory of these kingdoms:

Then the devil, taking him upon a high mountain, showedhim all the kingdoms of the

world in a moment of time. And thedevil said to him, “All this authority I willgive you, and their glory; for this hasbeen delivered to me, and I give it towhoever I wish. Therefore, if you willworship before me, all will be yours.”And Jesus answered and said to him,“Get behind me, Satan! For it iswritten, ‘You shall worship the LORDyour God, and Him only you shallserve’ ” (Luke 4:5–8).

Notice that the tempter says “thishas been delivered to me, and I give itto whoever I wish”. Just ask the ques-tion: “Who has the world beenpromised to, and who has the right toshare it with others?” The answer is inPsalm 2:8-9; Luke 22:28-30 and Rev-elation 2:26-7.

The world has only ever been promisedto Jesus, and he was so sure of it thathe promised his followers a share in it.This temptation therefore was in hisown mind, as were the others. Tempta-tions came into Jesus’ mind becauseof his human nature, but he alwaysovercame them by recalling the wordsof God. This is the example that hegives us, showing how we too shouldresist temptation.

John Woodall

130th Year 17

another play or drama. Here theSatan character represents theopposition from these Samari-tans, who would be ‘rebuked’by the angel of God. The HighPriest would then change hisworking clothes to Priest’srobes, and the Templeservices would start again.This was the meaning atthe time.

More importantly, thechapter is also a wonderfulprophecy of the crowning ofJesus as our perfect HighPriest. Jesus was born about400 years later. The Hebrew name‘Joshua’ means the same as ‘Jesus’.Both names mean ‘Yah shall save’,(‘Yah’ is a short form of God’s name‘Yahweh’).

Joshua’s garments were soiled –building is dirty work. This representedhuman nature which as we have seenis ‘dirty’ stuff. When Jesus was here hehad the same nature as we do, butbecause he always pleased God hewas raised to life again with God’snature – like the High Priest changinghis robes for clean and splendid ones.

Satan tempts Jesus Now we go to the New Testament tosee how Jesus’ temptations are shownin the same dramatic way – Jesusversus the devil or satan.

These temptations of Jesus arerecorded in three Gospels (Matthew4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13)which shows how important they are. Ifwe forget what the Old Testament tellsus about temptation, they do seem tosay that an evil super-human beingvisited Jesus. But here we have onemore Bible ‘drama’.

Remember − when we asked whereopposition to God comes from, the

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18 Glad Tidings

about this is very telling “As long as hesought the Lord, God made himprosper” (2 Chronicles 26:5).

Military ManTo ensure that the nation of Judah wasable to be safe and secure, Uzziahfought against and subdued some oftheir long time enemies. ThePhilistines were still causing problems,so Uzziah removed the city walls fromthree Philistine towns, Gath, Jabnehand Ashdod, then built cities of hisown, so that his forces could deal withany trouble quickly. He dealt with anumber of other nations in a similarway and strengthened the fortificationsof his capital city, Jerusalem.

Uzziah did not solely focus on thecities of his realm. He was a keen agri-culturalist. It is said of him that “heloved the soil” (2 Chronicles 26:10).So he built towers, presumably fortifi-cations, in the desert and also cisternsfor water, to ensure that the largeherds of livestock he had were not leftwithout sufficient to drink. He hadlarge teams of farmers and those wholooked after vineyards.

Good AdministrationTo ensure that all of his military con-quests could continue Uzziahre-formed and reorganised the army.He was assisted by a strong adminis-trator Jeiel and two skilled armycommanders. In this way he was ableto ensure that his subjects worked withhim. The army was large, with a total of307,500 soldiers who were controlledby 2600 “mighty men of valour.” Hewas also able to arrange for war

Middle Eastern kings in Bible timesenjoyed tremendous power and privi-lege along with a rich and luxurious lifestyle. King Solomon was the mostobvious example of this, but KingUzziah was not far behind. He reignedover the kingdom of Judah for 52 yearsfrom about 786 BC. He is sadly anexcellent illustration of the Proverb:“Pride goes before destruction, and a

haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs16:18).

Teenage KingUzziah became king following thedeath of his father Amaziah, who waskilled in a conspiracy, which seems tohave originated with Jeroboam II of thenorthern kingdom of Israel. Uzziah,sometimes called Azariah, especially inthe book of Kings, became king whenhe was only 16. He seems to have hada flair for the role and set about estab-lishing a really magnificent kingdom,approaching this in a very systematicmanner.

He did what was right in the sight ofthe Lord, according to all that hisfather Amaziah had done (2 Chronicles26:4).

He was aided in this by a man calledZechariah. This name is quite commonin the Old Testament, and it is not pos-sible to be more specific about whothis was. It is quite possible he wasone of the priests, though probably notthe High Priest. Clearly Zechariah wasable to guide the young Uzziah in theways of God. Like other great kings ofJudah before him, God blessed himbecause of his trust. The comment

Living like a King

Good King UzziahGood King Uzziah

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130th Year 19

machines, invented by skilful subjects,to be placed on the towers aroundJerusalem. These could shoot arrowsor large stones to defend the city,should the need arise. All of thisensured that Uzziah’s reputation waswidespread as a king who was knownfor his strength. Sadly, the history ofUzziah does not end there.

Wrong DecisionHaving begun well, as faithful to theLord God, Uzziah forgot the principleswhich should have dominated his life.Perhaps Zechariah, his advisor earlierin his life, was no longer there. Therecord says quite simply:

When he was strong his heart waslifted up, to his destruction, for hetransgressed against the Lord his Godby entering the temple of the Lord toburn incense on the altar of incense (2Chronicles 26:16).

Offering incense in the Holy Placewithin the Temple was a duty strictlyreserved for God’s appointed priests.The law was quite specific. “No out-sider, who is not a descendant ofAaron, should come near to offerincense before the Lord” (Numbers16:40). There must have been somesort of tip-off, some sort of warningabout the king’s intentions. For Azariahthe priest had followed Uzziah into theTemple. As diligent custodian of thelaw of God, Azariah was able to tellUzziah forcefully that he had no busi-ness to be doing this; that he shouldnot be there at all!

They withstood King Uzziah, and saidto him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, toburn incense to the Lord, but for thepriests, the sons of Aaron, who areconsecrated to burn incense. Get outof the sanctuary, for you have tres-passed! You shall have no honour from

the Lord God” (2 Chronicles 26:18).

If he had heeded this warning allmight still have been well. He couldhave acknowledged his wrong doingand been forgiven. Uzziah did not doso. He became angry, and with thecenser of incense still in his hand,leprosy began to break out in his fore-head. Leprosy was a disease of theskin, for which there were very strictrules under the Jewish Law, because itcould be very contagious.

Azariah, the High Priest, and theother priests rushed Uzziah out of theTemple. It seems that Uzziah himselfrealised that he had been struck by theLord God, as he also made to leavequickly. He remained a leper for therest of his life, living in a separatehouse, unable to carry out many of theduties of a king. He was now excludedfrom the Temple and was unable to goto places where there would be otherpeople. So his son Jotham reigned asregent.

King, not PriestUzziah had lived like a king, and whilsthe did the things which the Lord Godexpected he was successful and pros-perous, and the kingdom of Judahbenefited greatly. Sadly, he forgot thathe was only the king and that he wasnot a priest as well. The Lord Godexpects to be approached in the rightway, and Uzziah should not have triedto change that. The dual role of Kingand Priest is reserved for a specialking, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thelessons are clear: that those whofollow the ways of God prosper, but toforget them is to start down a path thatleads to destruction.

Mark Sheppard

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